Times Flow

"Salutations, lad." Prometh said behind his laced fingers. "What brings you here?"

Shadow nodded once towards Prometh.

"Where else would I go?" he asked with a simple smirk. "Standing out in the open right now is bad for my health. And I'd rather not lurk around with those damned monsters, either."

Carol watched the transaction between the others and gwene with curiosity. She was eager to meet this person with whom they were all aquainted, but she froze the second she laid eyes on him. Fear shot through her like an electric shock, but she refused to make a sound. She did not wish to be rude; after all, this was their friend. However, she kept her gaze glued to the folded hands on her lap, hoping not to be noticed.

Shadow's eyes went over the group, and they eventually settled one the one with an absolutely terrified expression. He turned his head and glared at Gwene.

"I thought I told you to tell them I'm not some crazed monster?" he snapped angrily. "This is why I wasn't about to just waltz in." Sighing, he rolled his eyes- oh well, it couldn't be helped now.

Frowning, he glanced back at Carol. "Don't worry, I'm not going to eat you," he remarked bitterly.

"I-I-I'm s-sorry" she replied meekly. "I d-didn't meant to... th-that is, I don't think you w-would actually..." Carol fumbled over her words, eventually finding the courage to look up at him. Her pale blue eyes met his glowing red like hot coals. The girl took a deep breath, walked over to him, and held out her hand. "My n-name is Carol. How d-do you do?" she asked as evenly as she could. Courtesy wins over fear.

Shadow watched idly, with a slightly bored interest, as the woman stumbled over her words, and finally got up, walking over to him and holding out her hand. Well, if it was her way of making amends... He shrugged and took it, nodding once to her.

"Call me Shadow."

He then looked to the side, frowning. "I'd be better if not for all the people out there that want to kill me right now." He shrugged. "Not much different than usual, yeah, but since there are still some monsters around, people are actively trying to hunt them down."

"mmmm. I was aproached by a stalfos just this evening. the m-monsters seem to be restless nowadays." Carol said. She was calming down now, finding it helpful to look out the window. A fair distance away, she saw a flash of light in the growing dark. a lantern perhaps?

"From what I hear, their sense of order has completely collapsed; not that they had much of one to begin with. Without their leader, they are forced to fend for themselves. That makes them exceedingly more dangerous than when they were under Ganon's thumb."

At Prometh's words, Shadow suddenly frowned, looking off to the side as if he had an idea. No... it was a crazy, stupid, impossible idea. He kept silent, still looking away, his brow furrowed as he was deep in thought.

"but does hunting them really help?" Carol asked softly, looking over her shoulder at Prometh. she thought back to the stalfos, to the arrow she'd put through it's head. She suddenly felt a wave of guilt. "maybe they are just confused. maybe they just need the right guidence..." she turned back to the window. the light had disappeared.

Clearly surprised, Shadow blinked as he looked over his shoulder at Carol, frowning.

"Never heard someone actually show some concern for shadow monsters before," he remarked quietly, still frowning- but his voice was far from angry.

"I just wonder, 's all. If hunting has taught me anything, it's that sometimes one has to look beyond appearences."

Shadow gave a calm nod, though he was bewildered by the idea that this trembling women in front of him was a 'hunter'.

Either way, he crossed his arms, looking outside one of the nearby windows.

"Anyways, Prometh. You're right about one thing; without someone to control them, when the shadow monsters are outside their normal world, they run wild. They have no mind of their own, no purpose, if they're not in their own realm."

Carol turned her back on the window to face them now. she tilted her head to the side. "their own... realm?"

Shadow sighed, rubbing his temple with his forehead. It was common, he supposed, for regular light-dwellers not to know about the Dark Realm... but even so, he'd thought something as simple as that was more widely known than, say, other details. Still, he frowned, crossing his arms and looking back up at Carol.

"The Dark Realm," he explained, as calmly as ever. "It's where all dark creatures originate from, where they live and where they are created. I could send them back, but one," he continued with a sigh, "it takes a lot of energy to open a portal to it from here, and two, if I stayed out in the open long enough to even summon it, I'd be attacked by every monster-hunter from here to Hyrule Castle."

Deserax looked at him and made a thoughtful face.

"Well, I could help guard you if you can send all the monsters back."

"I'm more than happy to help on that front also." Gwene said, pledging her allegiance.

"Soup is ready!" Joce said from the kitchen, she entered carrying a big pot and set it at the dining table, she went back to the kitchen and bought out 6 bowls, spoons and a ladle, she poured soup into one of the bowls and handed to to Gwene, she repeated the process until she got to Shadow, she took the second last bowl and filled it with soup, she passed it over to Shadow with a friendly smile "Here you are, dear." she didn't seem afraid of him in the slightest.

Shadow frowned, thinking about this. It was possible, sure- but it might take a while. The monsters sure as hell weren't all going to get together in one convenient group for them- and hell, even if they did, there was no way he'd be able to muster enough energy to control and send them all back at once. It'd definitely be an undertaking to try and get all of them to-

And, interrupting his train of thought, even as the others offered their support, came a call from the other room that the food was ready. He blinked in light surprise as a bowl was handed to him- but, giving a bitter but thankful smirk, handed it back.

"Thanks," he said bluntly, "but I don't eat much."

Joce nodded and poured the contents back into the pot "If you do has a change of heart, feel free to help yourself." Joce offered to Shadow. She then went back into the kitchen and returned moments later with a large pitcher of milk and some cups for each of them and set it on the table.

"So, should we talk to Zelda about all this?" Gwene asked after finishing a mouthful of soup, which was really delicious "She may be able to rally support while we help you seal up the remaining 'bad monsters'." she emphasised on bad monsters because she knew Shadow was neither, and wanted to show her support of who he truly was.

Shadow shrugged away Joce's offering, though was silently glad that she hadn't asked why or questioned him further. That and his lack of sleep were sensitive subjects for him, both of them yet another reminder of what he was.

And yet, lo and behold, not a moment would pass without something else upsetting him, and he frowned at the mention of Zelda. He couldn't go near her, he looked just like Link and it would mess things up for this world- something he was stubbornly against. He shook his head. "No, it's best to leave her out of this," he said firmly with a frown and narrowed eyes. "The last thing we need is the Kingdom's attention, and it'd only bring risk to the royals' safety."

Gwene scolded herself "Right, silly me." she had another spoonful of soup "Where would we do all this anyway?"

"I think we should do it in a somewhat hidden spot. That way not all the monsters will see you at once." Deserax said, drinking some of the soup.

"How much energy would it take to do one at a time?" Gwene asked Shadow

Shadow nodded in agreement at Deserax, once more leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.

Glancing back at Gwene, he sighed as he said, "It depends on how many monsters there are. Not to mention both controlling them, AND creating a portal..." He frowned as he paused in thought at this. Shaking his head, he said, "I can easily do one or the other, but both at one time? It'll definitely take a lot out of me."

"I can help you there." Joce said, she walked through a curtain into her bottle room and walked back out with several bottles of potion, each a creamy colour. "These are bottle of a special milk that comes from another land, it is called 'Chateu Romani' it's liquid holds a special quaility, it gives the drinker three days of unlimited energy. This may go towards helping."

"As for holding them off, you can leave all that to us." Gwene said.