Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Tell me about your past ranching experience,” asked the man across the café table from Twilight. Time Lon, the rancher, was a powerfully built, no doubt by many years of hard labor on the ranch that Twilight was applying to work at.

Twilight couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated by him. Maybe it was the bad eye, blanched white by some past injury or illness that made him look fierce. Or the red and blue face tattoos. Either way, despite his appearance, Time Lon had been nothing but kind and polite to Twilight.

“I grew up on a farm in Ordon and have spent most of my life farming vegetables and raising goats and horses,” Twilight explained. “As you can see on my resume, I have an extensive list of agricultural skills from gardening to horse wrangling to animal husbandry.”

“Yes, I saw, quite impressive. Most of the ranch hand applications we’ve gotten have been from city-dwellers with limited ranch experience, but I can tell you’re serious about this line of work. How are you with children? If you weren’t aware, every summer we host summer camps for children.”

“Here are your drinks,” interrupted the pink haired waiter—waitress? It wasn’t clear what their gender was. Then Twilight noticed they wore a they/them pin below their café nametag that read “Legend.” Don’t stare, he reminded himself.

“Thank you,” Twilight nodded and took his drink—black tea with plenty of milk and sugar.

“And here’s your black coffee, Mr. Time—is this another potential ranch hand?” Legend asked.

“Uh, yes. I am interviewing him right now,” Time replied.

“Cool! Let me know how it goes!” Legend said as they turned to leave. “Good luck!” They gave Twilight a double thumbs up.

“Thank you!” Twilight returned.

“That’s Legend,” Time said. “My wife and I are regulars here at the café and see them all the time.”

“Oh, nice!” Twilight smiled politely. “Back to your question, I love kids. There’re a lot of kids in my village back home. I was a regular playmate for ‘em. Not to mention the fact that I have a little brother and baby sister back at home.” And the two young runaways he kept alive and safe for many months.

“Good, I’m glad to hear,” Time replied. “If you were to work on the ranch, would you be willing to assist with the summer camps?”

“Sure! Why not? I might even be able to get my little brother and sister out here to attend one.” And maybe he’d get to see his boys again—he knew they lived somewhere in Castletown with a real family now.

“Just wanted to leave my hometown and see the world,” Twilight replied. “I did some traveling around Hyrule after I left home, but now I’m running low on money—” Aah why’d he say that?! “—it’s time to get a real job again and settle down.” And stay near the boys he just couldn’t let go of.

“Ah, yes, the call of adventure and exploration that entices young folk,” Time smiled. “Already my oldest son—he’s 13—is starting to dream of sailing all around the world.”

“You get it,” Twilight grinned.

“I do have to ask though… you have some… unique face tattoos,” Time asked. “What do they mean?”

“Well, uh, you see…” Twilight hadn’t thought to have an answer prepared for this question. His mind raced. Should he lie? Or tell the truth? Lie! Lie! Keep the dark secrets a secret!

Time leaned forward and scrutinized him with that one good eye, his pleasant expression souring just enough that Twilight noticed it. No don’t get the wrong idea about me; I need this job! Twilight wasn’t sure he could make up a believable lie on the spot, and Time didn't seem like the kind of person who was easy to deceive (or who would take it well if he found out the truth) so in a split second decision, Twilight decided to just... tell the truth. Sort of.

“Truth is… it’s kind of an embarrassing story," Twilight nervously began. "But uh, while I was out wandering Hyrule, I got into some trouble—ended up getting cursed by a magical being and, uh, spent some time as a dog.” Not a dog, but a wolf, but wolves are scary so don’t tell him that.

“When I was transformed back,” he continued, “these face markings remained from the fur pattern of my dog form. But don’t worry—I’m not a dog anymore—” Twilight instantly internally kicked himself for saying something so obvious. “I mean—I won’t be turning into a dog again—I’m not like… a werewolf or something.” Twilight stammered and then laughed nervously, a blush coloring his face. He tried not to think about the transformation stone he wore on a string around his neck that let him transform at will.

“I see,” Time said thoughtfully and he leaned back in his chair, taking a long moment to consider how to respond. Twilight looked down at his drink, embarrassed. He gave it a needless stir and then took a sip.

“You know, it’s not uncommon for young naïve youths to be led astray, when magic is involved.” Time began. “I myself got into trouble of my own as a young person, and that’s what gave me these,” he pointed to his eye and the tattoos on his own face. “But I believe in giving people second chances and giving them the opportunity to turn themselves around—I got one. It doesn’t matter where you came from, only where you’re going—as I like to say.”

Time leaned forward again and looked Twilight in the eye.

“I like what I see in you, Twilight. You have a lot to offer, and there’s a lot that we can offer you. I think you’d be a good addition to our ranch: I’d like to formally offer you the ranch hand job.”

“Oh yes please,” Twilight couldn’t help but smile in relief. As long as he had a job in Castletown, he’s be okay. And maybe he could be in the boys’ life again.

“Pleased to have you,” Time shook Twilight’s hand. “Welcome to the Lonlon Ranch family!”

Chapter Text

“Oh hey Four, I got a job for you,” Four’s supervisor, Gondo, stopped him as he came out of the break room after his lunch break.

“What’s up?” Four asked.

“I need you to head out to Lonlon Ranch and take a look at… some kind of antique door hinge?” Gondo squinted at the scrap of paper in his hand. “I’m not really sure what the lady was talking about but you’ll figure it out once you get there.”

“Alright, I’ll grab some tools and head out there,” Four said and turned toward the tool room.

“I do need you back here by 2:30 to take over Gully’s job so he can go pick his kids up from school,” Gondo called as Four headed down the hallway.

Ugh. Gully was a nice enough of a guy, but completely disorganized—left sheet metal and ingots anywhere he pleased and didn’t know how to empty the shop vac once it was full. It was like no one had taught him how to clean up after himself. Four realized that Gondo wasn’t asking him to relieve Gully, but to clean up his mess.

Four groaned inwardly. Just what he needed. Act normal, act happy, he reminded himself.

“Sure thing,” Four gave him a thumbs up.

In the tool room, Four checked out a bag of inspection tools and the keys to the company van, which thankfully wasn’t already checked out. He tossed the toolbag in the back, moved the driver’s seat as far forward as it would go, hopped in and headed out.

Already Four’s mind was buzzing with an angry imaginary argument with Gully over the sorry state of his workspace and poor-quality workmanship his peer was beginning to be known for. As he turned onto the main road, he cranked up the radio, hoping to drown out his thoughts.

“…In today’s headlines, three conference attendees vanish under mysterious circumstances…”

What was Four going to have to deal with when he got back this time? Metal shavings all over the workstation computer desk? Spilled oil he didn’t bother to clean up? Crappy welds, high metal, or heat-warped parts? Four grimaced to himself as he felt his mind begin to spiral into heated debate.

“…In other news, the grey wolf spotted inside Castletown city limits has been captured and released back into the wild…”

Four knew it was a pointless argument. Sure he may be right and justified if he ever choose to bring it up, but he was too polite to ever have a shouting match with his peer. Not to mention the fact that it could get him fired. Sure, it was nice to freely speak his mind (in his head at least), but it was also exhausting, and always less satisfying than he expected. Four knew he might have to have a good cry that night alone in his room to regulate his emotions back into check.

“…Tonight’s weather will be cloudy with a 60% chance of rain; high of 74 degrees and low of 53 degrees…”

That part of him that was so inclined to argue—that was anger talking. Or rather—passion. His strong sense of pride and justice.

Or Blue as he had nicknamed that part of himself.

He’d identified three other distinct parts of himself that drove his thoughts and behavior: Red, Green, and Violet—or Vio for short—as he had named them.

Red was his emotional intelligence—empathetic and sensitive, yet optimistic. Vio represented Four’s logical and analytical side, and Green was his ambitions, leadership, and courage.

These four parts together made his whole. But often times one part or another was ‘louder’ than the rest, as Blue was at the moment. And so there he was, having a passionate argument in his head over a hypothetical messy desk.

Halfway through his third round of mental sparring with Gully, Four forced himself to break out of the fight when he turned off the highway and into the long driveway that led to the horse ranch in the outskirts of the city. Two miles down the road, he reached the main farmhouse and barn. He parked in the gravel parking lot, and jumped out. As he retrieved his bag of tools from the back of the van, a sturdy woman with bright red hair came out of the house and greeted him.

“Hello! Oh! ...Are you the repairman here to look at the barn door?” She asked with a warm smile.

“Yes ma’am, I am,” Four replied.

“Is it… just you?” She asked looking around for a second person. Four raised an eyebrow.

Am I not good enough for you? Who were you expecting? Lady, I’m a certified and fully trained—

“Yes, it’s just me today,” Four replied, keeping Blue in check. “My name is Four Smith.”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Four, I’m Malon Lon, owner of this ranch. Once you’re ready, come this way and I’ll show you to the barn in question.”

Four closed the van door and followed her along a muddy path between a horse pen and a cow pen to a big green barn. He was going to have to wash off his work boots before he went back to the shop.

“Here’s the barn door that needs the rail repairs,” Malon rolled open one of the sliding front doors. Four followed her inside and she shined a flashlight up at the rusting rail that held the door up. “The trouble is that the original rail and roller system is antique and the company that made them went out of business 50 years ago.”

“50 years ago??” Four exclaimed. “The barn doesn’t look that old, maybe, what? 10? 20 years old? How does it have an antique cast iron roller rail?”

“This barn is 14 years old—built only a few months before my son was born—the roller rail was salvaged from an older barn that got torn down. Time and I liked the aesthetic so we had it installed in the barn.”

“Here, let me get a closer look. Do you have something I can stand on?”

“Oh here, let me get the ladder for ya.” The farmer grabbed an A-frame ladder that was hanging off of hooks on the wall. She popped it open and placed it as close to the door as possible. Four climbed up the ladder and inspected the cracked rail.

“I must say, you look mighty young to be a metalsmith,” Malon said. “You must be a prodigy!”

Four laughed politely. In nearly every out-of-shop call he’d been on, one of the customers had remarked about his stature. He’d been born premature and ended up with growth issues during childhood and ended up just under 5 feet tall. It certainly didn’t help that he had a young face. Though he was small, he was just as strong and skilled as any metalsmith ought to be.

“Ah, no. I’m actually 21. I just finished my apprenticeship in July and I’m a full-fledged metalsmith. I’m just look young.”

“You’re only 21? That’s still very young!”

Four ignored her and took a measurement of the crack in the rail. This was the time for Vio, not the time for Blue.

“I see… yes this rail is cracked pretty bad alright; the whole door’s going to have to come off and you’ll have to bring the rail to the shop for us to repair it.”

“I was afraid of that,” Malon said. “Well, wait a moment while I go find my husband and we can figure out how long it’ll take to get the door off and get you an estimate of when we can deliver the rail to you.”

“Sounds good,” Four climbed down off the ladder and dusted his hands off on his pants. He pulled his water bottle out of his toolbag and took a drink.

“I was hoping we wouldn’t have to take the door completely off,” Malon started as she folded up the ladder and carried it back to it’s spot on the wall. “We just got a new barn cat and she’s still getting used to her her new home and isn’t allowed to come and go freely yet. I suppose that we could—”

“Miss Malon?” Twilight appeared in the doorway of the barn. “Oh good! I need—”

Four spewed his water into the hay, startling both Malon and Twilight.

“TWILIGHT!!!” He cried.

“WHOAH! Four!” Twilight shouted in stunned surprise.

Last Four heard, his cousin Twilight had gone missing from his home in Ordon province—foul play was suspected. That was nearly ten months ago. It had been so long since anyone had seen or heard anything about him that Four figured Twilight was probably dead.

“What are you doing here??” They both asked at the same time.

“Oh! You know each other?” Malon asked with a smile.

“Yes! Twilight’s my cousin,” Four explained. “Except he’s been reported missing for the last nine months!”

“Oh my goodness!” Malon exclaimed.

“I can’t believe you’re alive!” Four sprang forward and hugged him.

“I am,” Twilight said as they embraced. “It’s, uh, been a rough few months but everything is better now.”

Four pulled away.

“It’s been so long Grandfather and I thought you were dead!! Where have you been all this time??”

“Well, uh, you see, I uh, got into a bit of trouble… with magic,” Twilight admitted sheepishly. “It’s a long story—I’ll tell ya later.”

“Trouble with magic?? You of all people?!” Four crossed his arms. “I thought you didn’t like magic? Like specifically didn’t want to have anything to do with magic? What’s that saying about all brawn no mana?”

“I-it wasn’t my fault entirely. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Things got hairy!”

“Why didn’t you text me or Grandpa and let us know you were in town? How long have you even been here? Hold on—you’ve called your parents, right? Do they know you’re here?”

“Y-yes I have. Called them. They’re doing great. On the next long weekend I’m gonna take a train back up to Ordon.”

“What do you mean on the next long weekend?? What, are you working already?”

“He’s our new ranch hand,” Malon said.

“Ranch hand?? You work here??” Four asked.

“Just started a few days ago,” Twilight answered.

“Let me get this straight, you go missing for nine months and when you suddenly reappear you can’t even be bothered to go see your folks before getting a job?? Nor can you be bothered to call me and Grandfather who live in the same town as you??”

“I—I’m sorry! I was busy! I had things to do here in Castletown! Important things.” Twilight held up his hands placatingly.

“What’s more important than your own family?!” Four challenged.

“I heard shouting, is everything alright?” A tall powerfully built man asked as he jogged up.

“Just peachy,” Malon replied. “Just a little unexpected family reunion between our ranch hand and the metalsmith that’s working on fixing the barn door. It seems they’re long-lost cousins.”

“Is that so? Alright, why don’t we all settle down and go inside for a coffee break?” The man suggested. “I’m Time Lon, by the way—Malon’s spouse,” he said to Four.

“Thank you sir, but I—I really ought to get back to what I was doing,” Twilight hastily replied. Four flashed him an irritated glance. He was getting the distinct feeling that Twilight was hiding something.

“I kind of left the chainsaw in a precarious position… within reach of Wind and Aryll—I just needed to ask about… ah nevermind.”

“I see,” Time said raising an eyebrow.

Four checked the time on his phone. It was already 2:10—drat. He didn’t have time to stick around. He had Gully to attend to.

“As much as I’d like to sit down and hear your entire story from beginning to end, right now Twilight, I’m expected back at the shop in twenty minutes,” Four said. “But why don’t you come over to Grandfather’s place tonight and have dinner with us?”

“I think I’d like that,” Twilight replied. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I should have called you as soon as I was… available.”

“And I’m sorry for yelling—I’ve been having a day,” Four sighed. “I’m really glad you’re okay.”

“Uh, I have a new phone number now, do you want it?” Twilight offered.

“Definitely,” Four smiled. “Welcome back.”

Chapter Text

Wind paced the sidewalk along the edge of the parking lot, watching for his mom to pick him up, getting excited every time a green SUV pulled in, only for it to be the wrong model of car, be driven by someone who wasn’t his mom or dad, and pick up or drop off other little league players that he didn’t know.

Wind’s mom was late—over 20 minutes late—and Wind was starting to worry. He kept checking his phone, but mom hadn’t replied to any of his texts nor did she answer when he tried calling her ten minutes ago. What if something had happened? What if the car broke down? What if she got in an accident?

Should he call dad? Should he try to find his coach (probably already left)? Or see if any of his teammates were still hanging around? Maybe he could get a ride. But then what if mom came after he left? What if her phone was broken or dead or something? What if—

Ring! Ring!

Wind snatched his phone from his pocket. Mom was calling!

“Hello?” He answered.

“Hey Wind, sweetie, I’m sorry I’m so late to pick you up. We’ve had a bit of a cow emergency here.”

“Cow… emergency?”

“Yeah, Lazy Suzan escaped her pen somehow and ended up stuck in the mud of the duck pond. She’s yelling quite a bit so we’re concerned that she may be injured. We’re trying to get her out of the mud, but its… been difficult—and messy.”

“Oh,” Wind said and paused. He could indeed hear distressed mooing in the background. “Suzan’s probably fine, you know she’s just a drama queen,” he said, more than a little annoyed.

“I know, but one can never be too careful. Warriors just stopped by so he’s gonna help Dad and the new ranch hand deal with the cow so I’m gonna clean up and head out there to get you. Will you be okay hanging out for a half hour until I get out there to pick you up?”

“I don’t really have a choice, do I?”

“Well, not really, unless you wanna walk the twelve miles home. Here, you have some money with you, don’t you? Why don’t you get yourself some fish and chips at the fish shack? I’ll be there before you’ve finished your lunch.”

“Will you pay me back?”

“Son, this is part of why we give you an allowance, so you can have money to take care of yourself when things like this come up. So no. Sorry kid.”

“Ugh. This is the worst.”

“Oh you’ll be fine. Your video games will still be there when you get home. See you in half an hour.”

Wind hung up the phone and groaned. She’d read him like a book. Last night he’d made it to the fire region’s temple in his new (to him) (retro) Legend of Zink game and he wanted nothing more than to explore it (didn’t have time in the morning before the baseball game).

Wind did some quick mental math. He’d already waited a half an hour and now he’d have to wait another half hour to get picked up. And then it was going to be a 20 minute drive home as long as traffic wasn’t being dumb. 30 minutes if it was dumb. Then the obligatory 10 minutes of dad asking how the game went, changing out of his uniform. If he was lucky, he’d get away without showering immediately and then he could jump back onto the game in a minimum of 1 hour, fingers crossed.

“Everything okay, hon?” An unfamiliar voice asked him. Wind turned to see a random Zora parent and child he didn’t know looking at him.

“Yeah, its fine. I’m gonna go get some food,” he waved them off. Zoras were generally very nice and kind people, but, he knew better than to admit that he was there at the sports park alone.

“Oh! Alright. Well if you need help, just ask any parent or coach for help,” the Zora parent said.

“Sure, sure,” Wind said and headed to the fish shack. There, he ordered the standard fish and chips and a hydromelon soda. Once he had his food he needed a place to sit, preferably someplace that wasn’t suspicious and no other random adults tried to talk to him.

Wind noticed at one of the picnic tables, the new kid on his team, a Rito boy, was sitting with two older Hylian teens.

“Hey you, new kid, what was your name again?” Wind asked without thinking. The three boys looked up at him.

“I’m Tulin,” the Rito said. “What was yours again?”

“I’m Wind... Mind if I join you?” Wind asked a little stiffly.

“Nope. Come take a seat. Oh uh, this is one of my teammates,” the Rito told the older boys. “And these are my brothers,” Tulin said motioning to the two boys.

“I’m Hyrule,” the brunette said with a smile.

“And I’m Wild,” said the blond without a smile.

“Hi,” Wind said politely. “Thanks. Sorry… my mom hasn’t arrived yet to pick me up. I just need somewhere to hang out until she gets here.”

“No worries. Our mom’s over there helping a kid on another team who might have broken their wrist. She’s a paramedic.” Tulin pointed over his shoulder with his… thumb feather?

“Oh man, really? That sucks for that kid,” Wind replied.

“Yeah, they fell off the bleachers and caught their fall weird,” Tulin said.

“Man, today is just the day for emergencies, huh?” Wind sighed.

“What do you mean?” Hyrule asked him.

“My mom’s late because there was a freaking cow emergency at home.”

“Cow emergency??” Wild snickered. “Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t be laughing.”

“Go ahead and laugh, it’s a ridiculous as it sounds,” Wind said. “My folks run Lon Lon ranch at the edge of town—”

“Oh really?” Tulin looked up from his fish.

“You know the place?” Wind asked.

“We’re up there once or twice a week doing riding lessons,” Wild said. “At least I am—I love horses.”

“I’m a Rito so I can fly—I don’t need to ride horses, but whatever mom signs these two up for she also signs me up for too,” Tulin said. “Although Hyrule is technically a grownup now so he has to sign himself up for stuff.”

“You’re 18??” Wind exclaimed. “You look more like 15.”

“Kinda sorta yeah, haha,” Hyrule said. “We actually don’t know for sure what my birthday is, so the doctors took a guess of how old they thought I was and I got to pick a day to be my legal birthday.”

“Seriously? That’s so cool! I wish that I got to pick my birthday. I hate being a winter baby. I’m much more of a summer kind of guy,” Wind said.

“Totally get it,” Tulin replied. “All Rito are born in the spring so its pretty annoying to have the same birthday as literally half the population. I wish I had a cooler more unique birthday like September 17th or New Year’s Day or something.”

“My birthday is March 3rd,” Wild said. “But I’m kind of meh about it. It’s usually raining on my birthday so that’s lame.” He shrugged.

“So what’s your story?” Wind asked. “How did three obviously unrelated kids become brothers?”

“Adoption, duh,” Tulin replied. “My folks adopted these two off the streets like 2 years ago.”

“We all just moved here to Castle Town a few months ago from Tabantha,” Hyrule said.

“So which is better, Tabantha or Castletown?” Wind asked with his mouth half full of fish.

“Tabantha,” all three boys answered at the same time and Wind laughed.

“It’s so much more free, you know?” Wild said. “There’s forest, mountains, a giant awesome volcanic caldera lake…”

“It’s a lot less crowded and peopley,” Hyrule added.

“It’s cooler and not too hot like it is here in the summer—ick! I get so hot in all this fluffy plumage.” Tulin said flourishing his wing and flaring out his flight feathers.

“I can imagine,” Wind laughed.

“And what’s your story?” Wild asked Wind.

“Me? My story isn’t anything interesting,” Wind said. “I’ve lived here in Castletown for most of my life, I have a normal family—a mom, dad, a little sister, my family runs the ranch. This is my first season playing baseball—at least baseball on a team. Most summers me and my sister go to the eastern islands and stay with our grandmother, but we decided not to this year for, uh… reasons.”

“What do you like to do for fun? Besides baseball that is?” Tulin asked.

“Well, I like to play video games—I’m working on playing through The Legend of Zink: Kingdom of the Fallen Stars. Sometimes I record youtube videos—but don’t tell my parents I do that though. I like anything to do with boats and pirates and the ocean. I can infodump for hours about them—just ask my sister.”

“Wait, you like The Legend of Zink?” Wild

“Uh oh, you said the magic words,” Tulin laughed.

“I sure do, I’ve even done some speedruns on Us-tube. I even have 214 subscribers.”

“Seriously???” Tulin squawked. “Prove it!”

“Okay, check this out,” Wind pulled out his phone and opened the app, and showed it to Tulin. Hyrule and Wild both craned over to look too.

“WindyPiratePlays is your account? I’ll look it up later,” Wild said. “Ooh is that a speedrun of Lyre of Worlds?”

“Hmph, so you do have 214 subscribers,” Tulin grumbled, then suddenly perked up. “You might not realize it, but my brothers are already internet famous,” he added, not to be outdone.

“Tulin!” Hyrule exclaimed.

“Really? I’ve never heard of any Wild or Hyrule,” Wind replied raising an eyebrow.

“That’s because we were called something else on the internet,” Wild said. “Have you ever heard of The Wanderers?”

“You mean those two runaways and the wolf that used to wander all around Hyrule helping people out and getting into trouble? I mean, yeah who hasn’t heard of them?” Wind replied. “Before I got my phone, I used to sneak onto dad’s laptop when he was sleeping and check the Wanderers Sightings tracker website to see where they went.”

At Wind and Aryll’s elementary school, the Wanderers were a popular conversation topic—it was every schoolkid’s dream to not be saddled with the drudgery of school and chores and instead go on adventures and wander the world like those two runaway kids. But the teachers eventually banned the students from talking about Wanderers because they didn’t want kids to be inspired to run away… Like Wind had done that one time…

“But when I was in 6th grade, the Wanderers vanished and were never seen again,” Wind concluded.

“That’s when we were taken in by Tulin’s family and adopted,” Hyrule said. “But don’t tell anyone we’re the Wanderers, alright? We’re supposed to keep our real identities a secret—at least until Wild’s a legal adult.”

“I don’t believe you were really the Wanderers. Anyone could claim that. Besides, where’s your wolf?”

“Wolfie’s missing. Ran off when we were caught,” Hyrule said. “Mom says she thinks he was captured and relocated to the Lost Woods Wildlife Refuge way up north, but we don’t know for sure.”

“You claim to be The Wanderers, but you’re conveniently missing the wolf?” Wind crossed his arms. “Sus.”

“You don’t have to believe us, honestly, it’s probably better if you don’t,” Hyrule said. “All of this has been lies. Really. We’re not actually the Wanderers.”

“Sure, whatever you say,” Wind said, honestly not sure what to believe. He’d be doing a bunch of internet research on the Wanderers when he got home to try and figure out what actually happened to them.

“Shh! Mom’s coming! Change the subject!” Tulin hissed.

“And then I told the storekeeper, I’m not after the pots, I’m after the rupees inside them!” Hyrule improvised. Tulin, Wild, and Wind all burst out in fake laughter at the ‘joke.’

“Well it seems you three have made a friend!”

Wind turned around to see a bright pink Rito lady approaching from behind him.

“Oh hi mom! This is Wind, one of my teammates,” Tulin waved. “He’s waiting for his mom to pick him up.”

“Nice to meet you Wind! I’m Saki, the mom of all three of these troublemakers,” the Rito smiled and gave a little wave.

What followed was an obligatory small talk conversation, as awkward as conversations with other peoples’ mothers usually go. Wind was concerned that Tulin and co. would head home and leave him behind all on his lonesome, but thankfully they hung out for another 5 minutes until Wind’s mom finally arrived to pick him up.

And then in an unforeseen twist in Wind’s plan to hurry up and get home, his mom and Saki stood there and conversed for an additional 20 minutes before finally the two ladies both said goodbye for the 4th time and actually meant it that time.

Wind sat in the back seat of the van instead of the passenger seat, both to show his displeasure at being left at the sports park for so long, but also so that his mom wouldn’t chatter pointlessly and so obligate him to reply when all he wanted to do was internet search on his phone.

Wind been working with his therapist to put thoughts of The Wanderers behind him and to work through everything that had happened to him last summer when his sister was kidnapped and then he’d run away. But now thoughts of the Wanderers were thrust upon him again. And Wind had to know—could those two boys be Them? And what did that mean for Wind?