Seated among the thick bushes that she had chosen as a makeshift campsite the night before, Soli absently picked at her meager breakfast of nuts and berries as she stifled another yawn.  In addition to sleeping rather poorly the night before, the journey from the Lost Woods, though relatively easy, had been rather tiring for someone who wasn’t used to walking so much.  The necessity of avoiding the major settlements and roads along the way, so as not to attract undue attention, had only made the journey that much longer.

Her exhaustion, however, was no match for the excitement that continued to build at the thought of finishing the journey and entering the city below.  Of course, there was more to her mission than just reaching Castle City, but she pushed that to the back of her mind to be dealt with later.  In the meantime, she could focus on actually getting into the city itself and enjoying the fact that she was almost done with her journey.

Unfortunately, there was one obstacle in her way: the City Guard.  From her vantage point atop the hill outside the city, she could see the seemingly endless procession of people starting and stopping as they crossed the drawbridge that led to the gates of the city, which was clear evidence of the guards checking everyone and everything that entered the city.  While this wouldn’t be a problem for most people, even if they were Resistance spies, it was a bit problematic for Soli due to her childlike appearance.  A man or woman wouldn’t draw more than a passing glance trying to enter the city alone, but a child was another story, and Soli couldn’t afford to have people paying a lot of attention to her.

So, Soli had decided that the easiest way to enter the city unseen would be to make it so that they couldn’t see her at all.  Figuring that she had waited around long enough, Soli scarfed down the rest of her breakfast, lest her fairy scold her later for not eating it all, and focused on summoning her magic.  Inwardly, she reached out to grasp at the threads of energy that surrounded her so that she could reshape them as she saw fit.  The threads, however, were not so easy to grab onto.  They stretched and shifted in a chaotic rhythm that made it hard to predict where they would be from moment to moment.

Eventually, she managed to grab ahold of a few threads and began weaving them into the form that would render her invisible.  Once the magic was in place, she crawled out of the bushes and stood, stretching for a moment to alleviate the stiffness that had settled in her limbs from sitting still for too long.  As Soli began making her way towards the drawbridge below, her fairy slipped into a small pocket on the inside of her raggedy blue tunic, slightly tickling her Kokiri charge in the process.

Before too much longer, she began making her way across the drawbridge, being careful to avoid bumping into the people around her as she walked.  Though her spell didn’t inherently mask any sound that she made, the general murmur that always accompanied crowds like this easily drowned out the faint sounds of her passage.  All in all, Soli was feeling fairly confident that she would make it across without incident, blended as she was by her magic and the crowd around her.

At least, she was until a stern-faced guard called out, “Hey!  Hold up a second!” and began making his way over towards her.  Immediately, she began sprinting to the gate, completely ignorant of the fact that the guard never reacted to her running away.  A little ways after she passed through the gate, she turned down a narrow alleyway and kept running.  Every so often, she would take another turn down a different little alleyway, working her way deeper into the city a little at a time as she tried to escape her imaginary pursuers.

Her flight, however, was cut short when she turned around the eleventh corner and slammed into another person, one who happened to be a fair bit larger than her.  As she bounced off the other individual and landed on her back, she lost control of her invisibility spell and popped back into sight, the threads of energy slipping from her grasp and slowly beginning to untangle themselves.  [color=lightsalmon][b]”Hey!  What’s the bi-”[/b][/color] the other person said, trailing off as they watched Soli seemingly appear out of thin air.

[color=limegreen][b]”S-sorry,”[/b][/color] Soli mumbled as she forced herself to sit up, still a little dazed from the collisions.  When her vision came back into focus, she saw the stranger looking at her with open curiosity.  Soli could see now that the stranger was a young male, probably a teenager, with a lanky build and a mess of dark hair on his head.  His clothing, consisting primarily of dark colors and styled in the typical Hyrulean fashion, was fairly dirty and ragged, which marked him as a member of the lower class to those familiar with life in the capital city of the empire.

[color=lightsalmon][b]”You new ‘round these parts?”[/b][/color] he said suddenly, breaking the relative silence in the alleway.  After a moment of hesitation, Soli nodded, feeling that it wouldn’t hurt to reveal such a little detail.  Satisfied with her answer, the boy continued, a small smile slipping onto his face.  [color=lightsalmon][b]”Well then, how about I take you under my wing, so to speak?  Y’know, show you around and what not?  Maybe introduce you to some of my friends?”[/b][/color]

[color=limegreen][b]”O-okay,”[/b][/color] Soli responded, speaking only marginally louder than before, still a little overwhelmed by all that had happened thus far.  While she was concerned about the possibility of blowing her cover or revealing too much, she had to admit that it would be nice to have someone show her the ropes.  And being associated with the boy would probably help her blend in, an aspect of espionage whose importance had been stressed time and again during her preparation for the mission.

[color=lightsalmon][b]”Glad to hear it!”[/b][/color] the boy exclaimed, reaching out a hand and hauling the small girl to her feet when she took it.  Once she was steady on her feet, he began leading the way towards the end of the alleyway, introducing himself as Jair as he walked.  In response, Soli mumbled her own name, earning a simple nod from the boy as they reached the end of the alleyway, which opened out into a large marketplace that was packed with people and stalls, the shrill call of hawkers peddling their wares rising above the general murmur every so often.  And thus, the tour began.