Matt wrapped an arm around Alasea's shoulder and regarded Link with a girlish flare of his hand, kind of like he was imitating Leeron. "Honey, we're both a size 9, so you can take care of me too, okay?" he said, speaking like some strange diva.

Helena snorted and covered her mouth, stifling laughter. "Don't do that!" she said, her voice trembling. "This is serious!"

"Are you sure Alasea can't go with you?" Hugo asked Link.

For a moment, Matt's actions was an uncomfortable reminder of Link's few encounters with Falbi at Lake Hylia's uppermost edge. He shook it off. "I know its rude to ask, but I'd rather not get you two something that won't fit you," he said.

Alasea sighed, knowing that Link was right. Still, telling him was just embarrassing, especially with her crush standing nearby. Well, thanks to him, it wouldn't be the most embarrassing thing that's happened to her recently.

She looked away, blushing, as she gave Link her measurements. After both girls had given him their measurements, he nodded and looked back at Agitha. "Can you keep these guys out of trouble until I return, Agitha? They don't know much about Hyrule."

The girl giggled in delight. "Agitha would be pleased to," she said, nodding once.

"Great. I'll be back shortly," he told the others. "Don't wander off."

"All right," Matt said. He turned towards Agitha. "So...what're you doing?"

"I'm looking for Golden Bugs," Agitha informed him amiably. "I sent invitations out to them for my ball, but they must've gotten lost along the way. Link has been kind enough to search for them for me."

Ileyna, it seemed, had just gotten over her shyness--really, she seemed to be getting better at that as a whole--and approached Agitha, curious. "Really? There's golden bugs in Hyrule?"

"Oh yes," Agitha replied, happy that the other girl didn't seem frightened by the prospect, like the other girls her age. "In fact, if you come by my castle later, I can show you!"

Matt's lips widened into a frown. "Mmmm, I dunno if we'll be able to, but I'll be courteous and wish you luck on finding them all."

Helena just kept her scaly arms folded, occasionally sneaking some glances at Agitha and otherwise looking somewhat distracted.

"Golden bugs, huh?" Alasea commented, resting on the edge of a flowerbed, by the pond. "I guess Hyrule has all sorts of creatures."

"Better than those carnivorous plants," R.D. agreed as Ileyna and Agitha began to talk amongst themselves while the Hylian girl sifted through the flowerbed.

"Mmm." Alasea glanced over at Helena, noticing her discomfort. She had a fairly good idea what was causing it, and concentrated once more. Nervous? she asked telepathically to the weredragon.

Helena visibly shook at Alasea's surprise telepathy again, shooting her a dirty look. Warn me before you do that!

Alasea raised a hand to her mouth, covering a grin and feigning a cough, as if she were clearing her throat. Sorry, sorry, she returned. I don't know how I'd warn you, though. Really, though, are you okay? Something seems to be bothering you.

Nothing's bothering me, Helena thought. She glanced over at Agitha again, who was enjoying herself with Ileyna. I was just expecting Agitha to say something about me by now.

You lucked out, it seems, Alasea commented, also looking over at Agitha, who was holding out a certain bug for Ileyna to touch, who seemed to be growing more captivated by the moment. Coro didn't seem bothered by your appearance, either.

Helena sighed and walked up to Alasea. "Come on, let's just talk like normal," she whispered. "Everyone else is busy not paying attention to us."

"Alright," Alasea whispered back. She stood up and looped an arm around Helena's, so they could walk over to one of the balcony walls so they could talk in private.

R.D., however, proved to be a bit more attentive than the girls gave him credit. "They're acting weird again, like they were at the parlor," R.D. commented quietly to Matt.

"They're probably having a 'girl moment'," Matt said, pronouncing the last two words with air quotes. "Really, I bet Alasea's the only thing keeping Helena in check in the girl department right now, so I might as well let it slide."

"That's true," R.D. murmured. "Reasons not withstanding, it was a good idea to bring her along with us. This trip hasn't been easy on Helena."

"Well, you gotta consider the alternative," Matt said, spreading his hands. "Either bring her with us and try to help her control herself while dodging death, or leave her at home to turn into a ravenous dragon when stressed and CAUSE death. Either way you're fucked, but this one seems like the lesser evil. As far as I can foretell, anyway."

"Let's just hope we don't regret this when the Core finally reforms," R.D. said softly. "I hope to god that Geese was just trying to screw with our heads back then."

Matt's frown deepened. "Same here, man." Hey, you never know the truth until you find out. It had better be a lie. Let's see, what happened the LAST time Helena died? Yeeeeaaaaaaah. Let's try to prevent that in the future.

It was another fifteen minutes before Link returned, carrying five different bags, each one depicting the same, indifferent-looking baby-like face. He gave one bag to each of them to one of the people in the group. "The girls can go change on next to one side of the platform," he said. "And the boys can go change on the opposite side. Hurry up and get changed, so we can go meet up with Telma."

"Thanks," Matt said, holding up the bag in recognition. "Come on, R.D.. But no peeking. I'm watching you, man."

Helena thumbed through her bag, pulled out the fabric. It was a plain, but clean brown and white dress. Well, that was good, but...

"You know," Helena said to Link, "if you think it's a good idea, I can always turn back into my human form. If you don't want to scare anyone in the village, that is."

"If you can do that, that'd be great," Link said, nodding. He hadn't been aware that the girl could turn--or rather, return--to a human state. "Now, get a move on. I don't want to wait all day."

As they all made their way back down the stairs and split off to either side of the upraised platform to change in privacy. As they did, Alasea touched Helena's arm to grab her attention. "You think you can pull it off now?" she asked. "Changing back to human, I mean."

"I've done it before, why wouldn't I be able to?" Helena said. "We're not on the Ganmen world anymore, and the land around here is much more green. It'll be easier to draw from." She hung the bag from her shoulder using the strap, drew out the dress to its full length to study it. She'd look like a local peasant with this on. "Besides, I don't want to draw attention today."

"Well, I hope you're right," Alasea said. "Well, let's get changed into these things. Hopefully they didn't screw up on the sizes."

Helena excused herself to an isolated section while they got dressed. Eventually Matt walked back out in the open, wearing a simple brown and white affair with tinges of green. This time he had stowed the jacket in his pack, and he was even more glad that Link had bothered to get long pants, which made him more comfortable. Even better was that they lacked the little man-skirt like Link had on. That was the last thing he needed.

"These are my usual digs, but they ain't too bad," Matt called up to Link. "I can't exactly pay you back, though. Our money's probably different than yours."

"Don't worry about it," Link said, waving it off. "The store I got it from is insanely cheap, and I'll be able to get it all back soon enough."

"Glad to hear it," R.D. said, coming around and up the stairs. His outfit was a darker contrast to Matt's--black clothing overlaid with a dark blue sleeveless coat, held down with both a regular leather belt, the strap to his satchel, and the strap to his large sword's scabbard.

"Those fit you well," Link said. "Your ears will mark you as foreigners, but that won't be a problem."

"It won't?"

"No, most Ordonians have ears like yours," Link said. "I was the only exception."

"Well, that's a relief," R.D. said. He looked around. "Why do the girls always take so long?"

"We can still hear you, you know!" Alasea shouted over the wall. R.D. winced.

"Okay, I'm done," Helena announced to Alasea, stepping back out in the open. After spending that bit of time as a hybrid, the difference between that and the human form she now wore became noticably dramatic again. Her newly slender appearance was framed by the simple dress - mostly brown, fading into white at the bottom hem with white sleeves of the seperate shirt worn underneath.

"I like this one," Helena said happily, pulling at the dress as she looked down on it. "I'm going to ask Link if I can keep it."

"It looks good on you," Alasea agreed. "I'm not used to wearing long skirts, though..."

As she spoke, she tugged at the skirt she was sporting. Her dress was a mostly emerald and white affair, with the long skirt colored green everywhere except the front, with gold scrollwork running down the edges framing the white fabric. The top of the dress showed an ample amount of cleavage but nothing she wasn't uncomfortable with, framed by large white frills. The sleeves were short and ended in matching frills, and a dark green sash was tied around her waist to separate them both. A green cloth scarf around her throat, complete with a gold-framed ruby, completed the look with having the end of the scarf laid out over her chest.

"I'm not sure green's really my color," she said, sounding unsure. Secretly, though, she liked it... she was thinking about keeping it too.

"You both look great!" Ileyna exclaimed. Her outfit was extremely simple--a short-sleeved, long-skirted white dress with blue scrollwork at its hem and sleeves, and a reddish-orange scarf tied with a brooch at its front. Her beret mostly matched the dress, and both teenagers had agreed that she should keep it with her ensemble.

Helena knew Alasea was stacked, but...well, did Link have to buy something so revealing? The dress she got looked great for the dimnension they were in, but compared to that...

Calm down, Helena. It's not worth it. You've got bigger problems anyway.

"Well, let's go up and see what the boys are sporting," Alasea said, gesturing up to the platform. "As we heard... they're getting impatient."

She sighed at that. Well, it'd be fun to see Matt and R.D.'s jaws drop at how they looked.

More at Alasea than her. But that was enough of that. Helena pushed bad thoughts out of her mind and walked back out to the open area, looking up at the platform.

Alasea looped an arm around Helena's as they walked up, with Ileyna following close beside them. "Well, here we are, guys," Alasea said as they walked up.

Link nodded approvingly, while Agitha clapped her hands in delight. "They suit you," Link said.