A bell jingled and the man entered the lonely diner.

He swept off his heavy cloak and hung it on the coat racks running alongside the wall. Underneath, his fine silk trousers and vest were of a matching gray-blue tinge and his shoes were polished beautifully.

The café had a few dim lights on. The restaurant was open late and the menu was limited after a certain hour, but the Duke knew that he could get a hearty meal here. He sidestepped around some paper screens to the back of the restaurant, where he could sit down and think without worry of being caught in a commoner's eatery such as this one. The café was small for his tastes, but he knew he could get a hearty meal here for a few rupees.

He watched the pretty brunette waitress clearing the table across from him until she noticed him. It was late at night, but she was still as cheerful and bubbly as could be. "Howdy, hon, welcome to the Goron Café. Can I get you something to eat?"

"Sure," the man grunted, without looking up at her. Give me your hottest bowl of mutton stew. And an ale. Hylian Ale."

"You got it, darlin," she grinned. She grabbed the menu off the table and hurried off. She came back a minute later with a frothing brew in a cold glass mug.

"Enjoy that, your food will be out in a little while." She started to walk away, then stopped a few feet away and looked back over her shoulder, her silky hair flashing in the candlelight. "If you need anythin', just call me. Name's Nina." She smiled again, and the Duke finally lifted his chin up a little, but she was already behind a paper screen.

He sighed. He was alone with his thoughts for the time being. What to do? He mused. I can't go to the Hylian Guard, now that I know about him...

"Here you are, sir," came the immense voice of a goron. "One mutton stew. It's delicious, try it."

The friendly goron loomed over the Duke's table for a minute, but noticed that the man was just staring into the swirling broth.

"Is there anything you need, sir?" Gormay asked.

"No, thanks, just... leave me in peace..." the troubled Duke mumbled as he waved the chef away.

Gormay lumbered back into the kitchen. He peeked through the little glass porthole on the swinging doors to see if he could catch a glimpse of the man who was about to taste his mutton stew, but the man was positioned with his back to the kitchen doors. Gormay sighed and hunched over, then returned to usual. He and his employees were wrapping up for the night and he brought some pots over to the sink and began washing them.

A teenage boy with short, curly red hair and freckles came into the room. He wiped his sweaty forehead on his apron and rolled up his pinstriped sleeves. "Sir! I finished. Now what?"

Gormay looked at the boy. "Thank you, Danny. Just go to-"

At that very moment, a bloodcurdling shriek rang out from inside the dining room. Danny stumbled back, knocking over a stack of dirty pots and pans. A deep voice cried out in pain as the pans clattered to the floor in a nerve-racking din...

* * *

"Howard Bronson, please... MR. BRONSON. PLEASE TAKE YOUR FEET OFF THE TABLE."

A tall, lanky man with spiky brown hair kicked his brown leather boots off the wooden defendant's table. "Sorry, sir." he smirked with a half-salute.

The judge shifted uncomfortably in his seat and brought his gavel down onto the desk again. "Howard Bronson. Please approach the bench."

"Yeah, no problem." Ward spun around in his chair and planted the soles of his boots flat on the marble floor. They squeaked obnoxiously as he pulled himself up and walked slowly across the dark room to the judge's bench.

"HOWARD BRONSON," boomed the judge. "You have been found guilty on all charges by a jury of your peers. Are you ready to receive you sentence?"

"Yeah, I guess," Ward shrugged as he put a cigarette in his mouth and pulled out a box of matches.

"HOWARD BRONSON. NO SMOKING IN THE COURT ROOM."

"Yeesh, fine!" Ward put the cigarette and the matches back in his trouser pockets.

"Ward Bronson. You will be sentenced to complete fifty hours of community service."

"Oh, that ain't too bad. What's the deal?"

"You must volunteer your hands to assist at the Lanayru Province Hylian Guard Investigation Bureau."

"WHAT?!" Ward exclaimed. "No! I can't do that... I can't do paperwork. I hate paperwork! Please, anything but that!" He banged his fist on the judge's desk.

"You must go to their offices on the west thoroughfare at once. Court is dismissed!" The judge shouted as he banged the gavel on the desk several times.

"No!" Ward cried out. "GODDESS DAMN IT!"

(ooc: I named the thread after the bowl of stew that the Duke ordered, but if anyone wants to change it then we can. I think Slausher should post Kyo's awakening at the crime scene and then I will post again with a debriefing on the case, then the main portion of the rp will begin. Have fun and don't kill anyone (else)!)

If one had to explain the differences between Hyrule Castle Town and Gerudo Fortress, the list would be long enough to cover several parchments. However, in Kyo's opinion, that list most probably had to begin with their prisons. Despite all the terrible rumors that floated around about Gerudo Valley, Kyo now had a first-hand proof that Hylian prisons were much worse. They were dirtier anyway.

Until her meal arrived, Kyo was doing a series of sit ups in her cell. It was the only thing that could keep her mind off the smell and occasional screams resonating from the lower torture floor. Although she was only in for disturbance of peace, it had already been a week now. Something told her that her longer than normal sentence had less to do with the brawl in that tavern and more to do with her ears lacking that pointy tip and her darker tan. After all, everyone else involved in the brawl was already released.

"Food..." The guard's voice echoed into her cell, as a tray was pushed into her cell. The Gerudo immediately stopped her exercising and went for the grub - her stomach getting the best of her. Another difference she noticed was the terrible quality of the food offered to prisoners. At least in the Valley, they never offered moldy stuff, even to their worst criminal. She had refrained from eating most of her food on several occasions during the week and had resorted to simply feeding rats in the neighboring cells to pass the time.

Surprisingly, today's food was excellent. Meat loaf in mushroom sauce with a side order of peas, along with a generous portion of bread. Was it a Hylian holiday or something? The Sand Sharptail wondered as she scarfed down the entire tray in an instant, attempting to make up for the excruciating week she had to endure. Sighing, she wondered lightly how she would get out of this accursed place. No one knew she was back in Hyrule yet, let alone imprisoned - thus, it was hardly likely that anyone would pay her bail. At that moment, she then wondered how her friends back in Gerudo Valley were doing.

Her thoughts drifted to Miyo, wondering if the witch was still working as a priestess in the Spirit Temple. She then thought about Aya, who's last words to Kyo before she left concerned the public relation's office between the Hylians that she wanted to started. Something made Kyo suspect that it didn't go well, otherwise, she wouldn't be sitting in this fetid excuse for a prison...

Her eyelids were starting to grow strangely heavy, and the Gerudo found herself having a hard time keeping them open, as she slowed down her eating. It had been so long, she really wondered if everyone changed much; if she changed that much. Even that idiot Leslie, Kyo had to admit that she was starting to miss.

Yawning loudly, she started to feel strangely dizzy. She only woke up a couple of hours ago, it was strange that she felt this tired. Perhaps the place was getting to her.

"Or maybe this is all just a bad dream..." Kyo muttered to herself in a yawn, as her tray slipped from her hands and clattered against the ground, her head falling backwards at the wall behind her. Her eyes completely shut now, she smiled to herself slightly. "Yeah...I'll just wake up from this nightmare any minute now...."

--------

Kyo woke up to the sound of the most annoying shriek she had ever heard and that said a lot, coming from a Gerudo who fought more people than she could count on her fingers. Her eyes, which were adjusted to the dim lighting of her prison cell, squinted at the light that flooded the room. It was then that she noticed the head splitting headache that aggravated because of that God awful shriek.

"Shut the hell up Leslie, I told you already I didn't put those baby skulltulas in your bed last night" Kyo yelled in a disoriented voice as she pushed herself up in an upright position. As her dark eyes brown got adjusted to the room, she slowly realized that she wasn't in Gerudo Fortress.

"That's right, prison..." Kyo mumbled to herself with a yawn, as she stretched her arms. However, the sight of several people surrounding her made her pause for a moment, as she arched her left eyebrow. This wasn't the prison cell either. "What the...where am I...?" The Sand Sharptail asked to no one in particular as she placed her hands backwards on the floor for support - the gross feeling of warm liquid tingling her palms.

Looking to her left, her eyes noticed the puddle of blood that she was practically sitting in. Her brown eyes then followed the river of red liquid back to its owner - a dead Hylian. She attempted to jump to her feet, only to realize that she was surrounded by spears pointed directly at her. Now that her brain was seemingly functioning to a higher capacity, it dawned on her that she actually in what looked like a tavern or restaurant, and that the place was flooded with Hylian soldiers, all with an aggressive look on their face. Kyo's instincts were to reach for her elbow blades, but the lack of their presence at her hips alerted her and it was only when one of the guards demanded that she put her hands on her head, that she noticed that they were lying next to the corpse; both of them drenched in the blood of which she assumed belonged to the poor bastard as well.

"Listen...I can explain..." Kyo said carefully as her eyes scanned the room a bit more carefully this time, noticing the odd people out of the crowd of Hylian Guardsman; a teenage red head boy, a brunette Hylian young lady and a Goron.

No one said anything yet, as they waited for the Gerudo to finish her sentence. She paused for a few long and painfully silent seconds, as her arms remained firmly locked above her short body.

"I have no idea what's going on......" She then said simply with a hesitant smile.

Ward stepped out into the gray morning light. He hopped down the steps two at a time, then entered his usual, ambling gait down the path from the courthouse as a chilly gust of wind swept reddish leaves around his ankles. It was one of those bleak, cloudy days that made you grit your teeth and say, "Damn, this day's gonna be a long one."

"Damn," Ward muttered as he grit his teeth. "This day's gonna be a long one." He clutched his coat collar tightly around his lowered chin and kept walking. He battled with his thoughts for a little while and before long, he was on the other side of town, staring up at a creaking wooden sign with a Triforce crest and the letters "LPHGIB" in peeling yellow paint. He sighed and went inside.

The inside of the small office was pretty cluttered, and the gray light that passed through the high windows illuminated the dangerously high piles of stacked paperwork. Hylian Guard officers, some with and some without their armor, dashed around grabbing papers and handing them to each other and running out the door and running back in. It was a madhouse. Ward's eyes followed one gopher carrying a cup of hot coffee to the back of the room, where wooden shutters cast horizontal lines across the face of the only man who was sitting still. He had the dark, weathered skin of a working man, a bushy black mustache, and a cigar wedged between his teeth. He was looking through some papers when the young man carrying the coffee approached the desk.

"Thanks, Bill," the man said as he reached up and took the steaming coffee from the gopher. "Go find those reports on the J1 case. Go on, git!" As the gopher scurried away, the man took a sip of the coffee and noticed Ward standing there. "Oh, it's you! Get over here!" Ward nodded and approached the desk.

"Daschiel Falcon, District Chief of Guard," the man smiled underneath the mustache as he shook Ward's hand violently. "You're the criminal, right?"

"Well, that's just what my friends call me," Ward laughed. "Well, what do I have to do? Lick stamps? File paperwork?"

* * *

"Help who?"

"Detective Lawrence Spade. He's one of the finest investigators on the force. I'll introduce him to you," Falcon said as the two men walked down the street towards the commercial district.

Ward shrugged. "Wow, a murder case. It's not what I expected at all. I had no idea the office was so backed up that you actually needed help in the field," Ward chuckled.

The Chief looked at him seriously. "Yeah, well, we need a lot of help these days," he sighed. "Oh, look, we're here!" He stepped onto the sidewalk and walked through a door, a bell jingling overhead. Ward followed.

He got inside the restaurant and closed the door behind him, keeping the cold wind that was picking up out of the building. He unbuttoned his coat and looked for Falcon, who had already disappeared into a sea of Hylian Guardsmen and investigators. Ward tried to look over the shoulders of some men, but the enormous rocky hunchback of a monstrous goron obstructed his view.

"Here he is," Falcon said as he pushed his way out of the crowd followed by a young man. "Ward Bronson, your new assistant. Ward, this is Detective Lawrence Spade."

Lawrence Spade was about six feet tall and had wavy blonde hair and a handsomely angular young face. His eyes were behind glistening spectacles and his teeth were bright white. He was wearing a simple button-up white cotton shirt and black trousers, but he had a long black cape wrapped around him and connected at the neck by a broach encrusted with a red jewel. If it wasn't for his handsome face you'd think he was a vampire.

"Mr. Bronson, how nice to meet you," Spade exclaimed as he offered a white gloved hand to shake. Ward obliged.

Falcon patted Ward on the back. "Well, son, it was nice to meet you. I have to head back to the office. Now do whatever the detective tells you to do. Don't worry, he'll be reasonable. If you solve this mystery I can even sign a petition requesting the judge to decrease your sentence." When Falcon said this, Ward's sad eyes brightened a bit. "So carry on, gentlemen," Falcon ordered as he turned around and went out the door.

Spade grasped Ward's hand with both of his own. "Well, my dear Mr. Bronson, have you seen blood before? Have you seen anyone die before? If there's anything that will trouble you, I need to know so I can tailor your community service to be--"

"You don't know who I am, do you?" Ward chuckled.

"SPADE," came a loud voice from a table near the door. "Get over here."

Spade clasped Ward's hand in a disturbingly homosexual way and led him over to the table, where another detective was smoking a cigarette and looking at a floor plan of the restaurant.

"The Goron Café. Owner, Gormay the Goron Chef. He's over there by the bar, being interviewed." Ward looked over and saw a rocky mass like a mountain above the sea of metal helmets. "Two employees. Nina, bartender and waitress, Danny, busser and assistant. Both 'round here somewhere. Being interviewed. One other confirmed witness," the detective sighed. "Wise guy. White hair. Name's Swift. Can't pronounce the real name. Istle Arfern or somethin', the detective muttered. "Here's 'round here somewhere too. There might be more witnesses, we're not sure yet."

"Victim was Arthur Aragon, the Duke of Lanayru. Left his house in the better part of town 'round eleven last night, showed up here 'round eleven thirty. Ordered some mutton stew at a table over there, then little Gerudo girl comes up and slashes him with weird-ass elbow weapons." The detective motioned with his hands across his own body as he described the damage. "Slash wounds running up the left breast to the collar bone and another went 'cross the jugular. Guy bled to death," the detective said as he drew an imaginary line across his own neck and made a gagging noise. "We've got the girl's prints all over the weapons, they was hers after all, and they're covered in blood."

"Who's the Gerudo?" Spade asked.

"Don't remember. She broke out of prison last night, too. She knocked out three guards and escaped somehow. Came here with a mind to kill. She killed Aragon and then passed out on the floor. Just woke up a few minutes ago."

"Okay, thanks, Jim," Spade said thoughtfully as he placed his hand on Jim's shoulder for an uncomfortably long period of time. "All right. Let's go over there, Ward."

Spade reached for Ward's hands but Ward shoved them into his pockets. Spade's eyes narrowed but he dismissed it and casually turned to the crowd. He put up his gloved hands and pushed guardsmen aside. The men fell away, clearly respecting the superior ranking detective and his assistant.

They made it to the table where the man was killed. A cold bowl of mutton stew sat half-finished on the table, and an overturned chair drew the eye down to a man lying on his stomach in a pool of dark red blood. Investigators were kneeling around him, taking notes and poking him with weird instruments. Ward's eyes followed the pool of blood past the two blood-soaked elbow blades lying on the floor to a groggy-looking Gerudo girl with cacao hair sitting nearby looking up at a circle of spears pointed at her neck.

Ward's jaw dropped. "It's... you...!"

(OOC: And so it begins! Let's start with the characters milling about at the crime scene or outside the café, introducing themselves, being interviewed by investigators, or trying to find out what's going on. After that it'll be more or less open to everyone who signed up to do whatever they want, and I'll provide more directions later. Okay, have fun!)

At about eleven at night a man left his home and locked the door behind him. As he walked away, a figure hiding in the shadows watched from behind a mask. He had been awaiting this opportunity for about a month now, finally he had talked out all of the other man's dirty little secrets at a recent party. The man in the mask crept back into the shadows behind the lavish estate. It would surely make headlines once the person living there discovered that his most prized possetion would be missing, and at the hands of none other than the Crimson Mask.

Stalking to the back of the property in the wealthy district of Castle Town, the Crimson Mask paid close attention to the windows of the building. He still saw servants walking about, cleaning up before they went to bed. They would be tired, and easily frightened at this hour, unable to defend the home if the Crimson Mask should run into one. He slyly walked along a brick wall until he reached a cellar that led to the basement of the manor house. He knelt down by it, there was a heavy pad lock on it. "No worries," the Crimson Mask thought to himself as he pulled his skeleton key out of his sleeve, and easily opened the lock, then threw open the cellar doors, snuck inside, and closed them behind him, taking the lock with him.

Walking through the cool damp space below the manor he looked toward the ceiling of it. He had already devulved from the home's owner that there was no existing passageway between the basement and the actual house. Yet the Crimson Mask had studied the house while he was in it several times on frequent visits previously, and knew that the basement was directly below the kitchen of the manor. The kitchen had old wooden floors that could easily be penetrated. The Crimson Mask found a box full of beer bottles. He dragged it over then stood on it, then reached into his bag that was slung over his shoulders and pulled out a wood carving corkscrew. Pushing it up against the ceiling he started to turn it until wood chips started to come out and fell on his large red hat. He drilled a total of six holes in the ceiling, then brouht out a hammer and struck the spot in between the holes. Cracks started to appear in the floor, then with one final smack the floor piece fell down. The Crimson Mask dodged as it did, then waited and listened. Nobody apparently had heard the break in so far. He brought out a grappling hook and threw it up the hole. The first attempt didn't latch onto anything, yet the next one seemingly latched onto a wooden pillar in the kitchen.

The Crimson Mask climbed up through the hole into the kitchen, then brought a chair over the hole as to not arouse attention immediately should one of the servants come in. The house was now very dark, with only small shafts of moonlight coming through the windows to illuminate the way. Stalking down the dark hallways the Crimson Mask made it to the master bedroom of one Arthur Aragon, Duke of Lanayru. The lavish bedroom, with its noble draped bed and many bookshelves and paintings was a treasure trove of valuable items collected over a long and wealthy military career. Yet the Crimson Mask wasn't here for a petty theft of such items, he wanted this to be another publicity stunt, and go for the grand prize.

Stalking along the wall the Crimson Mask was gently tapping his white gloved hand on the wooden panels. He kept tapping until he found a hollow spot. Grabbing a crowbar out of his back he forced it against the wall, then peeled open a secret compartment with a safe. "Damn," the Crimson Mask stated. He always hated safes. While they weren't impossible to get into, they were more annoying than anything. He didn't bring his safe-opening tool with him, believing Mr. Aragon wouldn't have put it in a safe. He'd have to resort the old method of listening for the tumblers very closely. Spending an unnecessary time doing so, the Crimson Mask found the combination to be 42 right, 23 left, and 17 right again. Opening the safe the Crimson Mask peered inside to find the Duke's Crown, his most prized possetion, and worth hundreds of thousands of rupees. The Crimson Mask gently lifted it up and put it in the bag. Then he pulled out a shred from a painting and placed it in the safe, then closed it again.

"Thief! Thief!" came a shout from a bulter behind him. As the Crimson Mask turned around, the butler recoiled back in fear. "The Crimson Mask!"

"Hello Monsieur, sorry to deprive your boss of something so valuable he couldn't live without it, but I must be off. Tare di bye!" The Crimson Mask reached behind him and pulled a lever on a large metallic cylinder that was draped across his back along with his bag. Suddenly a plume of crimson smoke billowed forth and clogged the room with it. The Crimson Mask bolted toward the window and kicked it open, then lept out to the next building's roof. Dashing across the rooftops he lept down off of them when he reached the buisness district of Castle Town, sure he wasn't followed. He was in an alleyway next to a building called TheGoron Café, a place for commoners, not someone as sophisticated as the Crimson Mask ever. Just as the Crimson Mask was about to pry his way into a sewer opening there, he heard a shriek come from inside the building. Thinking he had been caught he pulled the lever again releasing another cloud of crimson smoke as he disappeared down into the sewers and closed the hatch over his head. Looking up, thinking the guards would be on him for sure, he was surprised that he didn't hear any footsteps coming toward him. He noticed a small duct leading into the restaurant where their dranage came from. Walkin up underneith it he heard people talking and shouting as guards rushed on the scene. Apparently something else caused the horrid shriek, the Crimson Mask didn't have time to pay it any mind right then. He needed to escape away with his newfound treasure.

* * * *

"I demand to know the meaning of this," Rodrigue stated as he was brought to The Goron Café by guards. "You come knocking on my door and don't even give me a good reason!" Rodrigue still managed to get dressed in his fine clothes, including a blue and gold coat made of fine silk. He was sat down at a table inside the restaurant near an obvious crime scene. "I'm the victim here! I demand to know what brought about this inquisition on me!"

"Calm down," one of the investigators stated as he walked over to Rodrigue and sat down opposite. "We brought you here, because I have to inform you of some bad news. You were an aquaintence of the Duke of Lanayru, correct?" Rodrigue nodded, still not sure what was going on. "You knew him quite personally, did you not?" Rodrigue nodded.

"Why? Are you accusing me of murder or something?" Rodrigue demanded as he slammed his scaly fist upon the table. The investigator actually had a slight chuckle at that.

"No, Mr. Drogo, we are sorry to say your friend Arthur Aragon was murdered last night here. You being one of his closest friends of his in life, we thought we should tell you. We should also tell you that you're not a suspect, however the motive for this crime, and the suspect we do have has yet to be put together. You'll soon be questioned by Mr. Lawrence Spade, the head detective in the case, once he is done over there. I'm sure he has some questions for you regaurding the life of Mr. Aragon, and why anyone would want to murder him."

Rodrigue breathed a sigh of relief. He was shocked at the same time, the implications might be worse. They said they had another suspect in custody, but if they thought the Crimson Mask might've framed someone else, the consequences on his spotless non-murdering career might be over. Rodrigue sat a bit uncomfortably as he looked around at the scene. He now realized how foolish he was, leaving the painting shred and using the crimson smoke. If one person other than that butler should've seen him, the consequences might be dire.

"Oi! Watch where you're putting yer' foot, Shark!" Jacob muttered under his breath in annoyance as he tried to squeeze himself in a more comfortable position inside the barrel that both he and Shark were occupying. Because of the restricted and cramped space inside the wooden barrel, Jacob had been lying upside down and curved around Shark's body. Both men had been stuck in their respective position for about at least two hours.

"I still don't understand why we didn't hide in different barrels" Jacob then added through a muffled voice as his face met with Shark's stomach as both tried to move.

"You know...." Shark said with a yawn, being not as uncomfortable as Jacob, since he was seated upright and crossed legged. "That's actually a smart idea."

"I'm gonna kill you" his subordinate answered simply as the carriage rolled over a large stone that caused the barrel to bounce as both men yelped from inside simultaneously.

Hiding into this carriage to get back to Hyrule Castle Town was one of Shark's quick thinking while they were escaping from pursuing guards in New Kakariko. Jacob had been certain that they'd be caught this time, as it seems the guards had some reliable intel of where they were traveling in the village.

"Stupid Lanayru Duke" Shark said with a slight chuckle as he started to light up his tobacco pipe, despite protest of complaints from Jacob. The high-horse-riding Duke Aragon had taken a personal stake in the Guardsman policing task in fighting organized crime in Hyrule and invested large sums to pursue after Shark's Bad Blood Mob.

"I guess he's still not over us intercepting his merchandise caravan a year ago" Jacob said under subtle coughs because of Shark's tobacco smoke.

"Geez, all it had was a ton of ugly flashy clothes." Shark said with a sigh as he let the smoke fill into his lungs with a large smile on his face. "If anything, we did a favor to the queer prick. I wish he would choke to death on his stew."

"You know, maybe if you'd stop pulling these shenanigans, our new recruits wouldn't keep dying at such an alarming ra-" Jacob said once more through muffled noise, but was cut by Shark.

"Shhhh, I think we finally arrived in the city" The Hylian said as he pressed his long right ear against the wooden inside wall of the barrel. Looking down at Jacob who was staring at him upside-down, he winked his left eye and added that his ears can hear the Godesses whispering, and they're saying naughty things about him.

They sat silently in their barrel for a few seconds as Shark continued to listen outside the confinements of their wooden barrel, before shouting a hearty "Now!". With a sudden push, the barrel toppled over and rolled out of the transporting carriage and dropped to the paved city floor below.

"HYRULE CASTLE TOWN, YOUR TRUE SAVIOR HAS ARRIVED!" Shark exclaimed on one knee, while his hand clutched his cowboy hat and the other raised towards the heavens, after having rolled out of the barrel that smashed into pieces. A few people in the vicinity turned their heads towards the Hylian, a young woman giggling at the sight of him.

"So much for keeping a low profile" Jacob sighed as he picked himself up from the floor. His eyes widened at the sight of many guards heading their way and he suddenly wondered if the earlier guardsman had anticipated their return to the city. However, he breathed a sigh of relief as the guards marched passed them and entered a cafe restaurant behind them.

"Is there a party going on?" Shark said in an enthusiastic voice that gave Jacob a hard time to detect the sarcasm. Grabbing the hand of a passing young man, he asked him what was going on in that restaurant swarming with guards.

"Apparently there was a murder here" The teen said as his eyes gazed at Shark timidly. "Rumors has it that it's the Lanayru duke who was killed" He then added before turning on his heels.

Both Shark and Jacob's eyes locked for a moment, though Shark's eyes suddenly fell to his outstretched hands - a dumbstruck look about them.

"Are you okay...?" Jacob asked cautiously as the Hylian mob leader continued to stare at his hands in wonder, as if having discovered a new magical power. He then outstretched his hands towards the dark heavens enthusiastically.

"I WISH IT RAINED NAKED GERUDOS!" Shark suddenly exclaimed as he held his pose for a few following silent seconds, before looking back at Jacob. "Well...it was a worth a try." He then continued with a nonchalant shrug.

Itzal had never been able to relax that much in castle town. It was a place with far too much in the way of opportunities to earn an extra few rupees. Besides, there was very little about Hyrule Castle Town that was relaxing to Itzal. It was a boiling hub of activity that barely slept if you were in certain areas, and he normally was, as had been proven by this event.

He leant against the side of his caravan, just outside of the cafe, casually rolling a rupee effortlessly through his fingers. In the same way a poker player rolls a chip through his fingers and over the back of his knuckles. He had spent the morning entertaining small children in the street with a few tricks in between the barrage of questions fired his way by different guards and investigators. He had done the vanishing and reappearing rupee trick, where he took a rupee in his palm and seemingly made it vanish, before pulling it from behind a young girls ear. He had produced a bouquet of paper flowers from a little old black pot after burning a single piece of parchment with the word flowers on it. He had made a young boys yoyo vanish into thin air, only to produce it from a pocket in his tunic. Just little tricks to distract he children and divert their attentions from the terrible goings on indoors.

It had been an odd night, and what was more irritating is that he hadn't been allowed to leave the area yet. He had already been interrogated a couple of times by various guards and a detective who hadn't even had the decency to try and pronounce his name correctly. What was worse was he was due to perform across town the following morning. He would have to get a letter run over to the tavern and another to the leader of his entertainment troupe, to get a stand in sent over.

He thought back to the previous evening. He had been entertaining at the cafe for a few days now while the some of the troupe were taking a break to go and see family in the town or just enjoy a few days off. He had been playing the his harp for a little, soft, background music for the cafe. He had been about to pack up for the night when the Duke had come in. He had performed for the Duke a few times before now, and had stayed around to play a few more tunes for him, in the hopes of a generous tip, similar to those he had received from the Duke before. It had been a flurry from the moment the Goron Chef had headed back to kitchen. He would remember that shriek for years to come. It had been chilling, and he could understand why.

He shook the thoughts from his mind, it was bad enough having to tell them to the guard over and over without having to think about them on his own time. He felt uneasy, knowing how close he had been to such a grisly incident, and what was worse was it was a man he had known, not on a first name basis but on a work basis. It was still quite shocking.

Itzal sighed and climbed up the the back door of his caravan and sat on the step there. He wanted to go to bed for an hour before heading for the bath house and off to his next job, but he also wanted to know what had happened. Yes, he had seen it but he couldn't make sense of it all. He leant back against the door and rested his hands behind his head and his head and shoulders against the wooden door. He closed his surreal brown eyes and enjoyed the solitude for a little while. He debated going into the van and having a little quiet time to himself and changing out of the clothes he had been wearing now for over 24 hours. He didn't want to be seen as trying to leave a crime scene either, as that would do him no favors at all. He was already in one detectives bad books for his few cynical remarks, speaking in riddles and annoyingly, for telling the truth. He hadn't quite known how to explain all that had gone on so that it all made sense, and his effort had evidently annoyed the detective.

He hadn't liked the detective anyway, the man had annoyed him by wrongly pronouncing his name and refusing to correct it even when Itzal had corrected him.

Kyo's gaze left the spears threatening her and looked up at Ward Bronson with her left eyebrow raised. For a moment, it seemed like the Gerudo didn't recognized the man, but after a few silent seconds her eyes widened angrily as she pointed a threatening finger at Ward.

"You..." She mimicked Ward's last word firmly . "You're that guy from the tavern! YOU STARTED THIS WHOLE THING, YOU BACKSTABBING COWARD!"

Kyo jumped to her feet, though the tip of one of the guards' spear poking against her exposed thigh prevented her from taking any further action. Clenching both her fists and teeth, she closed her eyes as she attempted to calm herself down.

"Don't try anything funny Gerudo or I'll make you regret it" One of the soldiers declared as he nodded at his partner to go fetch the shackles while Kyo wondered with annoyance if this idiot would have dared making these threats to her if he wasn't backed up by half a dozen other guards.

"Well then...." Kyo continued with Ward with a calmer voice, as one of the guards proceeded in cuffing her hands behind her back. "Mind explaining what's going on?"

Ward was used to having beautiful women yell at him, but he was very startled to have this particular one yelling at him again. He didn't think he would see Kyo again after their meeting in a tavern the week before, and he was very grateful to get a chance to look at the pretty Gerudo girl's dark hair and pretty eyes again.

Except for the fact that she was yelling at him.

He struggled to regain his confidence. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he replied with mock indignance when she mentioned the tavern. "This has nothing to do with that. You're the one who broke out of prison and killed this guy," Ward said as he pointed at the late Duke of Lanayru.

Detective Spade stepped up, carrying a roll of parchment. He opened it and read aloud as Kyo stared.

"Kyo of the Carnegia Clan. You have been formally accused by the Hylian Guard of escaping from the Hyrule Castle Dungeons, coming to the Goron Café, and murdering Arthur Aragon. The Guard will now escort you to your prison cell, now with added security measures to keep you in. You may be interviewed and investigated between now and your court hearing in a week. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Thank you."

He turned on his heels, his billowing black cape swishing around, and returned to the table by the window where he was looking over the crime reports.

The guards picked up the Gerudo and carried her away under heavy guard. A beautiful and menacing pair of eyes glared at Ward out of the cluster of clinking armor. He stood there dumbfounded until Spade returned holding a different piece of paper.

"Ward, this is Itzal Arafryn's testimony. Could you please go have a chat with him? He's waiting outside. Be careful--the Guard has been badgering him all morning and he might be testy. Just go easy on him and confirm the facts in the testimony and see if you can get any more details out of him. Please hurry, there's not much more time," he pleaded as he clapped his gloved hand on Ward's shoulder. "I'm going to have a look around the scene again and then maybe talk to the restaurant staff. Make me proud," he said with a wink as he nudged Ward away.

Confused, Ward started to walk out the door. Kyo... that pretty girl...? Mean, but not a murderer... He was staring blankly at the front door when he grabbed the attention a passing guardsman.

"Excuse me, sir, could you tell me something about the suspect?"

"Not sure. What is it?"

"Why... why was she in the dungeon in the first place?"

"Oh... um. I think it was... oh yeah! She started a nasty brawl with some Hylians and a couple zoras in a tavern down the street from here. Broke some noses and caused a lot of property damage. Hey... aren't you that guy who lives in the apartment near me?"

"Um, yeah, maybe."

"Didn't you get arrested for a similar reason a week before that?"

Ward shook his head. "No, you've got the wrong man," he lied, and went out the door. He stood in the cold gray light, looking up at the sky. The tavern brawl, huh? Maybe... this is my fault... but why? Why did she murder someone...?

He spotted Itzal Arafryn leaning against a wooden cart, turning over a rupee in his fingers. He was about the same height as Ward but had long whitish-blonde hair braided behind him and reddish-brown eyes. Ward was still shaken up about seeing Kyo, and was nervous that his first duty for his community service sentence was to talk to a guy who was weirder-looking than Lawrence Spade and who also gave another detective some difficulty.

"Er... hey, there, sir," Ward said nervously as he approached the entertainer. "You must be... Itzal Arafryn. Did I pronounce that right? Can I call you Swift? That's your nickname, right?"

Ward leaned casually against the cart next to Itzal, who continued to play with his rupee and look straight ahead. "Um, I just wanted to validate your testimony one more time and see if there's anything else that we need to add. It says here that you told the detectives that you were performing in the café last night, playing a... harp, was it? You saw the Duke come in and you played for him hoping for a tip, but he didn't really acknowledge that you were there. He was... deep in thought, you said? You gave up and went to put your instrument away, and while your back was turned a young woman with dark hair came in and attacked the victim. You heard Nina the bartender scream and run into the kitchen. Then the killer passed out on the floor and you went to go get help. Is all of that right?" Ward waited for a response and then proceeded to ask Swift some other questions.

(ooc: You can just say "Yes, that's right," and then have Itzal talk to Ward. I figured I'd do it this way since you weren't really sure of what to say.)

The young entertainer kept his slender green and black clad shoulders against the wall of the caravan and stared somewhat defiantly ahead as he watched out of the corner of his eye as the clean shaven, short brown haired man in the crisp white shirt, pressed blue trousers and well polished boots walked towards his caravan. He sighed inwardly and rolled his eyes as he thought "Here we go again, another daft guardsman to ask me the same questions as all the others."
He wasn't sure about this man though, he lacked the uniform of the guard and the detectives and he seemed to lack the confidence and the air of mock authority of them too. he looked somewhat washed out in the grey morning light, alot of people did at this time of day, but not Itzal. He defiantly remained fresh faced despite his fatigue and waited to find out what had happened.

As Ward began to speak, the rupee vanished from view as Swift turned to face ward, one fluid movement in which at no point did his hands pass his pockets. He looks strait at Ward and sighed before saying "Oh Good. At least one of you guys can read, then again you don't look like a guard or a detective so that may explain it. Yes that's my statement and yes that what I saw."



Itzal looked down at the floor for a moment, deep in thought himself before looking back up at Ward and turning, placing his shoulders flat against the cart once again and lifting his eyes once more. "And yes, you can call me Swift if you cant be bothered to keep using my name. No one normally uses my name more then about 4 times after they meet me so why not start early eh?" he chuckled and looked back at Ward before turning more solemn once again. " I think the Duke was the only man ever to never use my nickname, He always used my full name. I rather hoped he'd recognise me last night but he normally only sees me... " He paused for a moment before sighing and correcting himself "saw me.. in my uniform. I was dressed down last night seeing as there wasn't going to be much moving around with a full sized harp. its hard enough just moving it into the building to play it so leaping around with its completely out of the question"

He fell silent once again as he thought of what he had seen and heard. He didn't recall hearing the door open to see the young lady come in, and he was fairly certain she had not been there all night. He had seen almost everyone come and go that day and he didn't recall seeing her before Nina's scream. He also thought back to the few moments after where he had been led out of the cafe by a guard and asked to hang around so they could take a statement from him. There had been a bizarre smell in the air and a feint hint of red dust or smoke in the air. he furrowed his brow at this thought, he couldn't place the smell and the smoke was far too red to have been any old dust, even from the Gerudo desert. He wondered if any of this meant something. As he thought the rupee appeared once again, seemingly from nowhere and began its course over the tops of his well manicured elegant fingers. not once did he look down at the gem in his pale hands as it spun repeatedly. He didn't even realise he was doing it most of the time, he just had to keep his hands busy.

"Detective, Was there any red dus........" As he started to speak he noticed a messenge runner coming up the street fast from the center of town, and past them. Swiftly he jumped down from his seat an swung the caravan door open calling over his shoulder "Hang on, I need to send a runner over to the other side of town, I'm supposed to be there before they open in a couple of hours and I'm not gonna make it in time!" He rummaged for a quill and a sheet of parchment before writing a note out, his handwriting was elegant yet spidery and probably awkward to read, that was why he had allowed the other detective to write his statement, even though it had meant repeating himself numerous times.

He swiftly folded the note and jumped down the 4 foot drop from the top stop of the caravan, a long and high leap, before landing smooothly mid run and bolting swiftly down the street, following after the messenger. He lived up to his nickname, that was for certain. He dodged flawlessly through the few people that were up this early and he ran elegantly, with a spring to his step that seemed almost unnatural. Then again he was often described as unnatural. He was a bizarre looking lad, he wasn't unattractive, just, odd looking for a young man. Itzal didn't mind, it was just part of his work gimmick in his mind. He was also barely still. He was always doing something, even if it was almost unnoticeable, the rupee in his hand or twitching his fingers to the melodies he composed in his mind.

It didn't take him long to catch up with the messenger to hand him the letter. He gave instructions for the letter to be delivered within the hour if possible, He handed over a small bag of rupees for the charge and allowed the lad on his way with his note. He jogged back at a leisurely pace, not even out of breath despite his turn of speed. he came to a calm stop in front of Ward and ran a hand through his hair as far as it would go before meeting with the fabric binding of his braid. "Sorry about that" he smiled with a somewhat apologetic look on his face "Just letting the boss to send a replacement to the next job so I can hang around if you need me." all thoughts of red smoke gone from his mind.

"What is the point of killing someone after breaking out of prison? Beats the whole purpose of a stealthy escape, don't you think?!" Kyo snarled angrily with a loud voice at the guards dragging her outside the cafe, as they passed Ward, who caused this whole mess in Kyo's mind, talking to some strange-looking young Hylian man. "I didn't kill anybody! Can't you see this is all a set- up - OW!"

One of the guards smacked Kyo at the back of her head with the pommel of his sword and although it didn't knock her out this time, she felt her head throb as her hazel brown eyes watered. "Why is it always at the back of my neck?" the Gerudo then muttered through gritted teeth as the guards literately carried her outside, as her small size and weight posed no problem for them.

As they passed through the early-morning market place towards the castle, they also passed two Hylians sitting on the fountain in the middle of the town square, their eyes following Kyo's escort.

"So looks like she's the murderer" Jacob said with a yawn as he stood up from the marble edge of the water fountain.

"She can pin me down anytime" Shark answered in awe as his navy blue eyes followed the small Gerudo being dragged out of the cafe. He couldn't believe how natural and comfortable these beautiful women were in such little clothing covering their tanned skin. As a lad in Ordon village, he fancied the Hylian women with their silky blond hair and tight corset around their waists. However, these women were nothing compared to the exotic Gerudos with tanned skin and so...little...clothing. The assassin Gerudo was wearing a simple green tank top and a mini-white jacket over it, leaving both her stomach and arms bare. Her short shorts exposed her perfectly sculpted thighs and that belly-button piercing would drive any man mad....He couldn't believe that he had never yet been with a Gerudo woman....

"Shark, you're drooling..." Jacob sighed with a roll of his eyes, snapping him out of his fantasizing thoughts.

"Let's go check out his mansion!" The Hylian mob leader suddenly exclaimed as he jumped to his feet as well and repositioned his black cowboy hat.

"Who's mansion?" Jacob asked wearily, afraid of the answer.

"The Duke's, obviously" Shark continued with an enthusiastic smile, as he already began moving forward. Jacob followed behind, attempting to persuade him to stop his idiotic idea.

"Are you insane? He was just killed! The place is probably crawling with guards who are probably already suspecting us for this, since we were pretty much his main enemies!" Jacob rambled on, attempting his best not to sound frantic.

"Don't worry, we have an alibi" Shark answered nonchalantly with a chuckle as he continued to walk at an easy-going pace, ignoring Jacob's retort that dealing illegally traded artifacts with wanted criminals in Kakariko wasn't much of an alibi. "Besides, don't worry, we'll be very sneaky and stealthy - oh.."

Shark's words trailed off as he stumbled forward, his arm flailing in the air before grabbing on to a passing-by woman's chest. She yelled loudly as Shark attempted to excuse himself, blaming this on tripping on his cape. However, his wide smile was hardly sincere nor embarrassed and ended up earning Shark a slap across the right cheek.

"Yes, very stealth-like..." Jacob sighed as both men watched the lady march away - Shark rubbing his red cheek as he muttered that he didn't think he deserved that.

"Well, what'd'ya say, Spade?" the scruffy detective from earlier grunted to Spade as he walked out of the kitchen.

The handsome detective smoothed his blonde hair back. "Well, their stories check out. Mr. Gormay and young Daniel were in the kitchen when it happened. The killer fainted and lovely Miss Nina ran into the kitchen to tell the others what happened while Mr. Arafryn ran outside to get help. Nina and Daniel hid in the kitchen while Gormay went outside to take a look around, and he saw the exact scene that we saw here this morning."

Spade and the other detective walked back through the dining room. The guards were thinning out. Only a few sentries remained and the cleanup crew was authorized to remove the body and clean up the blood, so they were in the process of it. There were a few reporters outside badgering every Hylian Guardsman that walked out of the restaurant.

Spade stopped and stared at the cleanup crew as they mopped up the bloody floor. He was preoccupied with thought, his angular nose casting a strange shadow across his face in the dim morning light that shone in through the window. The dark pools of blood reflected in his spectacles and obscured his contemplative eyes.

"Did she do it...?" Asked the scruffy detective, who had been looking at Spade the whole time.

"It seems that way," Spade replied, without looking up.

Suddenly, a Hylian Guardsman burst in the door and approached.

"Detective Spade, important news!"

Spade turned his head slowly and nodded.

"There was a break-in at Arthur Aragon's estate last night! He stole the Duke's Crown!"

"He...?"

"The... The Crimson Mask!"

Spade widened his mouth into a breathless "O" and was taken aback with such important news. He immediately narrowed his eyes and made his way to the door, his dark cape billowing about him. He passed a green zora with no tail standing near the entrance.

"You were Sir Aragon's friend, were you not?" Spade didn't wait for an answer. "Rest assured, I promise you I will find his killer. Adieu." With that, Spade marched out the door, pushing aside the reporters carelessly. He found the place where Ward was interviewing Swift.

"Okay, thank you, Mr. Arafryn-- Swift. You're free to go now. If we need anything else, we'll contact you," Ward said with a smile as he shook Swift's hand. He said goodbye and walked over to Spade.

"How did it go?" Spade asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Well. His story makes sense. Looks like..." He cut himself off. He was going to say "Looks like she did it" but he decided not to. "Now what?" He asked instead as he took a box of matches and a cigarette out of his pocket.

"Sir Aragon's mansion. There was a break-in last night that I need to investigate. They say it was... The Crimson Mask."

Ward raised his eyebrows this time. "Really? I heard about that guy," he mused as he lit the cigarette and took a puff. "You think... You think he did it? This Mask guy?"

Spade sighed and looked Ward in the eye. "I'm afraid not. No. The evidence points to... Kyo of the Carnegia Clan. But I think we may find some understanding, maybe even the motive, if we investigate the Duke's home. Come, quickly," the detective implored as he dragged his assistant away.

* * *

"Great," Gormay muttered as he hunched over a counter top in the kitchen. "This whole thing is going to ruin us..."

Nina patted the great goron on the side. "Don't worry, Gormay. We'll be fine. Just fine," she assured him sweetly.

"Yeah, I hope so," he sighed, his giant rocky back heaving up and down.

"Why don't you cook us up some soup, while we're waiting for the guard to leave?" Danny suggested from his seat on top of the trash can.

"Hey, that's a good idea!" Gormay grinned as he jumped up and went to counter that had all of the vegetables. "I'll just cut up some broccoli and..." Then he stopped dead in his tracks. "But... there are no knives... the Guard took away all of our cutlery for the investigation and we won't get it back until tomorrow..." Gormay returned to his chair and slumped over the counter again. Nina bit her lip and looked away. Danny looked at the floor, sorry that he had suggested it.

"Why me?" The goron sighed again.

"How terribly rude," Rodrigue said aloud. "Here they drag me here for questioning, and the main detective just walks by and says they've got it handled. What a waste of a day..." Rodrigue stood up, he was apparently 'free to go'. Yet with a big-time murder like this, it would be weeks before he could get back to his usual buisness. He knew the city's security would suddenly become top-notch. News of the break-in of the Duke's manor and his subsequent homicide would breed rumors, especially since the servant saw it was obviously the Crimson Mask who did it. It wouldn't take an idiot to suddenly link one event to the other, and suddenly the Crimson Mask wasn't just Castle Town's greatest master thief, but now was a cold-blooded killer, or at least had some hand in it.

Rodrigue however was one to seize on an opportunity when he saw one. He noticed the Goron chef looking a bit glum. Rodrigue was a shrewd buisnessman sometimes, and could tell that a homicide at any location would lower that place's value by great means. In a case of a cafe such as this, buisness would probably drop off the cliff as people thought that even eating there would mean they might be killed. The place looked a bit mid-ranged, not too dumpy. Well, it was dumpy to Rodrigue who enjoyed high-class society. While he would have to put off thoughts of the Crimson Mask for a bit, he might try a hand at some 'honest' buisness for a change. He had the money for it after all.

"This simply won't do," Rodrigue said as he stepped up to the counter across from the Goron, leaning his arm on it. Rodrigue ran his scaly hand over his head and back to the stump where his tale should be. To this day the amputation pain could be felt. "My dearest friend died... I feel just... well, just terrible honestly," Rodrigue moped. "And it couldn't have happened at a worse time too, I was going to go into a bit of a buisness deal with him... We were going to buy up struggling buisnesses in Castle Town here, turn them around into high-class establishments that even the Queen herself would go to on a personal basis. It was all apart of a city redevelopment plan." Of course Rodrigue knew he was making this up on the spot, the Duke, although a friend, had no such plans with him. Yet the Goron, who was probably nowhere near being aristocratic... he was after all just a poor minority here most likely. Rodrigue, on the other hand, was a wealthy minority. He was hoping that angle would reel this Goron in. "Oh, what to do now? I was the major funding for this project, but the poor Duke was the political muscle behind it. I'm nowhere near convincing enough." Rodrigue then leaned his back to the counter, then looked at his shoulder to the Goron.

"Hey, you're a struggling buisness owner aren't you? I mean, a homicide isn't much for buisness around here... You'd be lucky to get one customer for a month... I can hear it now, people complaining they're finding body-parts in their soup, others thinking there is the smell of a rotting corpse, still others not even entering for fear some random Gerudo-person is going to stab them in the back, or whatever happened here. Yet I'd hate to see such an honest person like yourself caught up in such... chaotic events and suffer for it. I'm sure the Duke would've likewise thought so. Why, his dying wishes would probably be to have his plans put into action without him... no less starting at a place which he favored for his last meal." Rodrigue pointed at the Goron with his silk gloved hand.

"Tell you what, I've got the deal of the century for you. You might've heard of me before, I'm Rodrigue Drogo, I've built a trading empire between Castle Town and Zora's Domain. An avid industrialist, I've decided to focus on more small-buisness ventures, which was why the Duke wanted me apart of his redevelopment plans. Imagine if this place turned around into not just a cafe... but a Café. Imagine it, Hyrule Castle Town's famous eatery, where gastronomy and atmosphere are second to none. Oh yes... Of course I don't think you can do it on your own, not with this homicide here. What you need is an investment, and a fantastic PR campaign. Listen to me, I've got a good plan for you. Let me buy up this old girl, and turn her into the talk of the town. I'll give you a good price for it, on top of that if I do buy this place I'll keep you and all your employees working here at double the wages they currently have. In no time I'll have this place shining brighter than Hyrule Castle in the morning, I can guarentee it. Just a small mention in the upper crust, and you'll have wealthy people coming here to eat no matter what slop you happen to serve, it is all about social status anyway."

Rodrigue leaned against the counter looking right into the eyes of the Goron. "So how about it, you sell this place to me and I'll make it worth your while. You can leave all this homicidal nonsense behind you, just act like you didn't see a thing, and start fresh. What do you say?"

"Oi! Watch it!" Kyo snarled as the guard clamped the remaining chain to her left wrist, constricting her to the stone wall of her small prison cell. Despite being chained to the wall, the door to her cell was also closed and locked as a permanent guard was stationed there to keep an eye on the Gerudo at all times.

"You're wasting your time, because I apparently have this amazing talent of escaping prison in my SLEEP" Kyo then continued to shout angrily at the man, though her frustrated sarcasm fell on deaf ears. The guard simply instructed the 'Desert rat' to shut her trap, as he tossed a stone at her ribs. Rather than quieting down, however, the Sand Sharptail grew even louder and frantic as she tossed and kicked her legs - her only limbs that weren't chained down.

"WHEN I GET OUT OF THESE CHAINS I WILL SHOW YOU WHAT REAL MURDER IS LONG-EARS!" Kyo continued her vocal rampage, tossing and turning frantically and angrily. Despite her small size, the Hylian guard had to admit that she was rather full of energy. He lightly wondered how such an attractive woman could be so...annoying. Without a second's thought, he slammed the but of his spear through the prison bars and against Kyo's stomach - knocking the wind out of the Gerudo as he demanded that she stayed quiet.

"People are going to come ask you questions real' soon, so you best be on your best behavior, because down here...I'm the only one you have to worry about hehe..." The guard said with a disgusting sneer as his eyes fell on Kyo's exposed thighs - making the Gerudo suddenly wish that she wasn't wearing such short shorts.

Falling silent as she attempted to catch her breath, Kyo pondered at what had happened in the past couple of hours. It irritated her beyond belief that she couldn't remember anything for what seemed like a space of at least 5 hours. This was obviously a set-up...but how could they have moved her out of her prison cell without waking her up?

....and who were "they"?

---------

"I can't believe we're doing this!" Jacob whispered frantically as his eyes kept glancing nervously at the two Hylian guards left unconscious, face down towards the floor of the Duke of Lanayru's master bedroom. "This isn't right!"

"Yeah you're right" Shark said nonchalantly as he looked up from the mountain of papers he was going through inside the Duke's desk. Walking carefully towards the knocked out guards, he grabbed the hand of one and placed it on the derriere of the other, sniggering as he did so. "It wasn't funny enough".

Jacob rolled his eyes as he still anxiously glanced at the doorway, expecting more guards to walk-in at anytime and unwilling to believe Shark's statement that the two felled guards were the only ones currently in the mansion at this hour. "Relax, I got us inside the mansion stealthly undetected didn't I?"

"I don't call knocking out two Hylian guards and locking a servant into an oven 'stealthy'. What are you even looking for?" Jacob said urgently as he watched Shark sabotaging all the 'guard lines' and investigation equipment put into place, as he tried to make his way towards the other end of the room. Shark peered in the shelves of the large bookshelf and grabbed a bunch of valuable objects at random, but discarding them all as he tossed them over his shoulder. "This is madness!" Jacob then stated as his eyes winced at the noise the falling objects were making.

"You're right once more....he wouldn't hide his crown in the closet, but...ah!" Shark trailed off as he skipped over to a hole in the wooden wall that he noticed just then. Glancing inside the whole, his smile vanished slowly at the sight of the open and....empty safe. Sighing, he looked back at Jacob.

"They stole it...." Shark stated in a bad mimick of a weeping voice.

"Who...stole...what?" Jacob said hesitantly, attempting to make sense of what his haphazard leader was attempting to communicate with them.

"The crown.....they knew it was a magical artifact. Damn and I thought his death would have been a great opportunity to finally take it, you know?" Shark muttered wisely as he looked down at the carpeted ground and bit his thumb, ignoring Jacob's obnoxious cough. "Perhaps another mob caught wind of our attempt of trafficking magical items to wizzrobes and beat us to it...."

Jacob coughed loudly once more, but Shark continued to ramble on.

"Why would they hire a Gerudo girl and why would they need to kill him, especially outside his own home....unless it was a distraction to...WHAT?!"

Shark shouted with annoyance at Jacob's third cough, whom simply pointed at a Hylian Times newspaper lying innocently in the ground next to one of the guards he had knocked out. Arching an eyebrow, his lips muttered silently the headline of the front page;

~Crimson Mask Strikes Again!~

".....that was my second theory" Shark said calmly with a simple shrug.

Danny started to pipe up. "Hey, what are you... you can't be back here in the kitchen! Employees only!"

Gormay smiled and quieted the busboy with a wave of his hand. He pulled a sturdy iron barstool (wooden chairs did not hold the hulking golem well) up to the kitchen island, pushed a basket of onions aside, and leaned over the counter and listened to the smartly dressed zora intently. Danny was completely silent as he sat on top of the garbage can, and Nina merely remained at Gormay's side, looking at Rodrigue with curiosity.

When the zora finished his pitch, Gormay simply rested his chin on his hands and looked across the table at the zora. It seemed like ages before Gormay's serious face finally broke into a smile. The goron sat up straight and spoke.

"Well, Mr. Rodrigue Drogo, your proposition is quite intriguing. However, there is something I must explain to you. You see, the culinary art is just what it claims to be-- an art. And a chef is, how I like to see it-- an artist, or at least they should aspire to be. That means taking whatever media they have and making the best of it. And a chef's kitchen... well, it's an art studio, you see. And a chef must be the master of his own studio. To compromise my creative freedoms in this restaurant... would be a thing most undesirable. So, Mr. Drogo, I will have to politely decline your offer. But thank you." Gormay bowed his head slightly and gestured toward the exit. "Daniel, please show Mr. Drogo out."

Danny nodded. "Yessir!" He approached the lavishly clothed zora with the missing tail. "This way, sir." They started to approach the big doors when Gormay raised his hand.

"Oh, and one more thing, Mr. Drogo." He smiled when he had the zora's attention. "There's one more thing I'd like to tell you. Sir Aragon's last meal was most certainly not slop."

* * *

It was nearing noontime. The gray morning light had given way to a sunnier lighting, but the dampness in the air and the cold breeze toppling the pillars of smoke that rose out of the chimneys of Castle Town still left the area in a somewhat dreary state.

Whether it was the unwelcoming atmosphere in the neighborhood that day or the news of the murder the night before that was distracting everyone, nobody noticed the man in the black cloak and hood, leaning against a corner of a house. He looked around the corner and then returned to his previous position. He reached down into his cloak and pulled out an amulet with a dully-colored amethyst jewel set in the gold. It started to flicker and then a flame within ignited, lighting the crystal into a warm purple glow.

"He's still there, Madam. Just... standing there."

"Hmm. I see," came a woman's voice, quiet and quivering through the magic amulet. "What did he say in his testimony? Did he mention the light?"

"No. Perhaps he does not know," spoke the man under the hood.

"Or... perhaps he does, and he just doesn't want to reveal it now," spoke the woman in the amethyst. "Will the detectives question him again?"

"I'm not sure," the man in the hood replied. "The detective with the cigarette said he's free to go for now, and if they need him any more they'll contact him."

There was a brief silence, and then the purple jewel flickered again. "That's good enough. We can't take the risk. Tail him. When he's alone, kill him," the woman ordered harshly. "No one will care about the entertainer boy." Then the purple flame died. The man under the hood put the amulet back in his cloak.

He looked around the corner again, to the spot where Itzal Arafryn was leaning against his cart.

"Let's see how swift you really are," the man whispered to himself, following it with a chuckle.

* * *

The bedroom doors swung open and two suavely dressed men appeared. One had blonde hair, handsome facial features, a big black cape, and white gloves. The other man had brown hair, blue eyes, a 24-inch recurve compsite bow made from Ordonian goat horn and Dodongo muscle sinew nocked with a deadly iron arrow pointed straight at Shark's face, and a cigarette.

"Freeze," shouted Spade. "You're under arrest for trespassing on private property, tampering with a crime scene during a Hylian Guard investigation, and assualting two officers of the law. You have the right to remain silent. Anything that you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Now put your hands in the air or my friend will have to shoot you."

Rodrigue took a large stretch when he exited the building, then put on a hat to shield his eyes from the beating sun. "Hmph," was all he said as he walked away from the establishment. "Hmph," again when he turned a corner up toward the richer part of the neighborhood. He then turned around from his front step, gazing down from the high hill the neighborhood was set upon. He could see the cafe in the main square from where he was standing, a good ways below him. He took off his hat. "That Goron apparently hasn't lived here long enough... damn greese monkey. If there is one thing to know in this town..." Rodrigue put his hat back on his head as he turned around and opened his front door a crack. "is to never turn down an offer made by Rodrigue Drogo."

"Evening milord," Rodrigue's servant stated as he walked through the door. "How did the investigation go?" he asked, after hearing about it that morning. It was now several hours later, almost the afternoon as the sun started its slow descent toward the low horizon.

"A waste of time," Rodrigue replied as he handed his coat and hat to the man. He was paid very handsomely, and was likewise paid very handsomely to only watch the foyer, clean the kitchen and living spaces. The servant was also paid not to question why he was never allowed into the master bedroom or bathroom, or why he wasn't allowed to clean it, or even why it was locked. Other servants were jealous of him, he was paid twice their salaries to do half the work. As such he was quite happy not to intrude on Rodrigue's buisness too often, but when a police investigation was heard he couldn't help it. "Bloody waste of a whole day," Rodrigue stated as he walked along with the servant upstairs. "I could've been doing much more leisurely things than to meet a rude investigator and a stuck-up Goron."

"Indeed, milord. Shall you take your dinner in the dining hall, your study, or should I leave it outside your room for you this evening?" the servant asked. Rodrigue halted a moment and looked at the servant.

"What's on the menu?" he asked.

"Salisbury steak," the servant replied, "with grapes, cheese, and red wine."

"Ah, my favorite, you always do know, don't you? Leave it outside my door, I'll pick it up later. Uh... I have a question to ask you." Rodrigue leaned in close to the servant.

"What is it, milord?" the servant asked.

"Would you call cooking an 'art'?" Rodrigue asked. The servant hesitated for a moment, thinking it was a trick question of some kind. Being a cook himself he had to choose his words wisely, he didn't want to see a cut in pay now, not while he was saving up for some new furniature.

"It depends on the establishment, milord, and the chef in question. I try to consider the food I bring you somewhat tasteful, and you haven't turned it down. Some consider fine dining an artform as well. If I might be so bold, why do you ask?"

"Just a question," Rodrigue replied. "I am not to be disturbed tonight, understood?" The servant nodded. "And, do not answer the door if anyone comes knocking upon it." The servant also nodded, then walked off. Rodrigue pulled out a key from under his shirt. It was his skeleton key, which he opened the master bedroom with, then closed and locked the door behind him. "So, that Goron thinks he's high society, hm? Just because a Duke happened to be caught dead in there one day, he touts that he's 'fine-dining' and 'has a cuisine studio' or whatever nonsense." Rodrigue sat down at his desk and pulled out a book, then thumbed through it. "Ah, here we are..." Rodrigue once stole the blueprints of every building in Castle Town from the city planner, helping his heists easier. No doubt the cafe was in there as well, each detail of the inside and out of the building as clear an as concise as it could be. Rodrigue therefore knew the layout of every structure in Castle Town, except for the castle itself. Those floorplans were a closely guarded secret.

"If that Goron thinks he can just 'make the best of it', let's see if I can cook him up a recipie of destruction," Rodrigue said to himself as he drew a quill from an ink well and started jotting down a plan, written in fine handwriting. It was titled 'Five Steps to Ruining a Restaraunt'. It even had a little squiggly line below it to make it even more fancy. "Step one, start with the small things," Rodrigue stated. "A few rats in the kitchen, spoiled food-stores... Smuggling it in at night shouldn't be a problem..." Rodrigue then picked his head up. "You know, I never believe I've done the opposite of stealing before, this should be a kick indeed!" "Step two, legal action. Health inspector sees the poor state of the establishment, gives it bad ratings. Not enough to close it down, just a decent punishing sucker punch. Good thing I know the health inspector... he has lovely children too." Rodrigue then moved down the page. "Step three, social outcasting... Get a few high powered-friends to talk to the people who actually eat there, state how they hate it. The bad PR will have them swimming in desertion. The town will begin to dislike its very presence!" Rodrigue leaned back in his chair. "Step four, vandalism. A few broken windows, wrecked chairs and tables, a kitchen that has all its appliances broken. He won't even be able to serve food anymore without looking deep into his pockets to repair the damage! Hah!" Rodrigue then leaned in close to the page. "And last, and certainly not least, step five! Grand larceny! Loot that place for every bit of valuable pieces it has, including the home of the owner himself as well. With financial ruin imminent, he has no choice but to close down and be forced onto the streets. Oh yes, this is good."

Rodrigue then tore up the piece of paper and swallowed it right there. "Now then, where am I going to find some rats and fungus? Hmmm... Ah, the sewers of course! I can make the operation tonight for sure. Let us see... The sewer line leading right under that place, hmm. I've already been through there just last night. This'll be easier than anything I've ever done." Rodrigue stood up and went into the master bathroom, then opened up the secret passageway below the bath itself, went through the two sets of security checkpoints, and went into his cache. He completely forgot the fact the Duke's crown was sitting on a stand right there. He was going to sell it on the black market, but with new opportunities knocking at his door, he would have to get back to it later. As the Crimson Mask put the last few securities on his mask, he opened up the passageway to the sewers. Taking some of his dinner and a rudimentary cage he snuck down and closed it behind him. He would have a few rats and disease in no time.