As the Festival of Lights concluded for the year, the chatter of those on their way out was of no less excitement, just more on what they could hope to look forward to on the subsequent year ahead. The buzz surrounding the final performance of the week was still quite audible on the lips of manner passerby as they made their way out of the festival grounds, and as Ambience, Mollianne, and Lyll combed through the southern end of the festival grounds in the hopes that they hadn't missed Sunflash, many people stopped them to ask for last-minute autographs and to congratulate Mollianne, singing her praises and hoping for just-as-good of a lineup on the following year. Ambience opted to remain silent in most of these engagements but nodded and thanked people who acknowledged him, the thoughts of his impact on everything still weighing a bit heavily in his mind against everything else he still had on his plate. Lyll also received some waves and shouts, mostly from other children she had engaged with while out and about in the final hours of the Festival on the day before. More than one group also stopped to question the strangeness of their attire makeup, given that Ambience and Lyll were bundled up quite well, while Mollianne remained mostly-exposed to the elements in her simple leather chestband and old teal skirt, but any implied lack of consideration for the siren's well-being was swiftly mollified; those who knew her well enough from previous engagements were also already well-aware of her inherent disregard for colder elements and thought nothing of it beyond a personal quirk or fashion statement, at this point.

Clearly in no particular hurry, a certain sorcerer was busy taking up space on a bench near the Welcome Center. His attention seemed to be equally split between a small book in his hands, and glancing up at the exit gate. Similar to certain other persons, although probably for other reasons; the Hylian is dressed in his usual sleeveless tunic, armored right arm, trousers and cloak. He's not bundled up tight, apparently managing to simply ignore the cold in some manner.

Perhaps startlingly, but also very much in-character for her, Lyll begins to get a little tired from waiting around for too long, and decides to take matters in her own small hands. "Angel-nii, can I get on your shoulders again?" she asked, holding up her arms pre-emptively.

Ambience glanced down at her and then Mollianne, but complied without any resistance, easily hefting Lyll up onto his shoulders with minimal effort. "That better?"

Lyll responds, but not to Ambience; in additional in-character style, Lyll shouts very loudly from atop Ambience's shoulders, or at least as loudly as her voice will allow. "SUN-NII! ARE YOU OUT HERE!? WE'RE READY TO GO! COME ON!" Ambience jumps a little from the suddenness of it, which causes Lyll to have to grab the sides of his head for balance. Several nearby people are also extremely startled by the sudden outburst, and Mollianne just goes into a fit of giggles.

As the call echoes off the walls, Sunny's head pops up and turns towards the announcement. A sly grin is smeared across his face as puts his book into his nearby small traveling pack. Fastening it about his back and under his cloak, he stands and cups his hands to holler back. "WHAT KEPT YOU LYLL, I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR EVER!" comes echoing back, at least as loudly. As if he'd be shown up in THIS shouting match, at least that easily.

Many people seem puzzled by this shouting match taking place between people who can quite obviously hear each other enough to close the gap without a need for such obnoxiousness, but also, Hikari no Matsuri is a place to be unjudged, and such a stipulation seems to be implied even in this situation.

Lyll at least has a -little- bit of consideration, and she actually clambers up onto Ambience's shoulders so that she's physically standing on them, promptly launching herself off of them (with no small amount of surprise and a 'Hey, Lyll..!' of protest from Ambience). Showcasing her fantastic aeronautics, Lyll flies through the air at a significant height, clearing the crowd and zeroing in on Sunflash, holding her arms out expectantly as she descends and throwing all other caution completely to the wind. Understandably, many people turn to watch as a small beastman girl suddenly shoots out of the crowd and about 20 feet into the air toward some specific target, though it wouldn't be the strangest thing they'd seen all week, by far.

Ambience rubs the back of his head idly, looking aside as Mollianne remains all grins. "I don't need to tell you that she's always like this, do I?"

Mollianne holds a hand loosely to her mouth, stifling another giggle. "I expected as much. Did you see how excited she was in the onsen?"

The flying furball's ballistic trajectory triggers a laugh as Sunflash clearly braces himself for a catch. A faint ripple of air (and more) around him might be visible to those looking at Lyll's intended target, as if someone was taking steps to ensure a clean catch with more than just his hands.

Lyll is very good at calculating her trajectory when she jumps on things, even if some of her other methods may leave something to be desired at times. Assuming the preparation is there, Lyll lands cleanly against Sunflash's chest and wraps her arms around his neck, holding herself there with her surprisingly-light self. "We've got somewhere we gotta go, Sun-nii!" Lyll exclaims, wasting no time. "You gotta come, too! Hikari-san said so!"

Careful not to bump into too many people (especially with her oversized wings), Ambience and Mollianne pick their way through the thinning crowd toward Sunflash, using Lyll's aerial stunt as a guide to where the two of them now are.

Not even stumbling, Sunny is quick to wrap his unarmored arm around her with a laugh. "Is that so? Well good timing then, I was just getting my stuff together!" He raises his free arm in a wave, and hollers a bit less loudly than before. "Come on you two, you're late! Can't keep Lyll waiting!" That grin on his face was probably a little smirk-ey-ier than it needed to be, but he did seem to echo the energy given off by his new chest piece. He didn't seem to be the slightest bit phased, probably having figured out exactly how high-energy Lyll was from the Festival tour the other night and loving every second of it.



Lyll allows herself to drop off Sunflash's neck once Ambience and Mollianne close the gap and all come together. She brushes off her tunic, more a gesture than an actual necessity, and bounces once in place. "Found him!" she exclaimed proudly.

Ambience smirks. "You sure did." He looks up at Sunflash and offers a nod. "I'm glad we caught you before you left. Hikari is having a get-together of some sort and asked all of us to attend. Given our conversation the other day, I'm willing to assume you don't have a whole lot on your plate that would require declining this offer." One of Mollianne's hands finds its way atop Ambience's shoulder as he continues speaking. "I can take us as far as Viorar, but we'll have a bit of walking from there." His tone of voice seems... off. Like he wasn't pleased about something, but it's just as quickly passed over.

Mollianne nods, picking up from there. "She lives in a big house at the south edge of Faron Woods. It is pretty easy to spot."

Sunflash has a bit of a...well not quite deer in the headlights look, but certainly seemed slightly surprised at the mention of who actually arranged the get-together. It quickly dissipates as Ambience continues, and the sorcerer gives a return nod to Mollianne. "Well, I'd be honored to join. Not quite sure why me, considering I'm something of an outlier, but I shan't question it too much!" He grins down at Lyll before peering back over at Ambience. "When you say 'take us as far as Vioar', you mean just navigating, or..." He lets it hang in the air for a moment, curiosity present on his face.

Mollianne smiles at Sunflash, perhaps a bit knowingly. "Given the way things unfolded this week, I think she sees you as something of a 'harbinger' or 'herald' over everything that happened in the last few days." She glances at Ambience, then back at Sunflash. "You have to admit that your arrival did seem to set things in motion. Or, at least, it seemed like it did once I noticed you were here. Whether it was that or something else entirely, I am sure we will never know. But the implication is there, just the same."

Ambience smiles a little bit, himself, giving a nod. "I can't quite pull off the same tricks that I used to. My transport is limited to things I can explicitly remember really well, and in that range, Viorar is the only thing that comes clearest to mind." Ambience lowers his eyes a little, which would be more obvious if not for the blindfold. "I'm still kind of.. figuring things out, after I came back. It's not a quick process, unfortunately."

Mollianne's hand squeezes Ambience's shoulder gently, an obvious gesture of support without having to say anything.

"It's okay!" Lyll pipes up, grinning real big for everyone. "Lyll can walk just fine!"

With a small cough and a kick of a foot, Sunflash adverts his gaze for a moment. "...As refreshing as it is to not be considered a curse for showing up, a blessing feels almost too much." Wry sheepish grin is directed at Mollianne before he nods at Ambience's words. "That sounds far preferable to anything I'd be able to manage. Last time I tried any kind of long range teleport, I got in some serious trouble." He pauses with a laugh. "Still am, I guess." Lyll gets a solemn nod and a grin.

Ambience can't help but smirk at the idea of magically-induced problems, having been a part of at least a few of them in his own past (that he could even still remember). "Alright. Hold onto me in some form, then, and we'll get going." He checks Lyll and Mollianne to make sure they have everything they brought with them. "Anything that gets left behind is probably going to stay here until next year, so hang on tight."

Mollianne adjusts her positioning slightly and moves so that she's holding onto Ambience from behind, her arms wrapped loosely around his neck. For her part, Lyll holds on tightly to one of Ambience's legs, clutching her backpack tightly around one shoulder as she does. "Let's go! Vroom!" Lyll's excitement is endless, as ever it is.

"Vroom indeed!" Sunny takes a step to the side opposite of Lyll and reaches out for an arm or shoulder to latch onto for the duration.

When Ambience can feel everyone connected to himself in some way, he closes his eyes and recalls; A bubbling fountain at the crossroads of eternal night... The towering library with hordes of vast knowledge... The highway of Luon, stretching into the far distance... He remembered it clearly in his mind, and as his power activated, a short flash of light erupted around the four, and they were at once gone.

*****

In next-to-no time at all, the group materializes in an equivalent flash of light, now within a familiar city's center with the familiar trickling sound of water in the near distance. But as they came up on Viorar, something in the sudden inertia of the transfer caught Ambience wrong, and as they appeared, his legs buckled and, with a surprised yelp, he crashed to the ground. Given her placement, Mollianne is pulled down with him as he falls, giving a helpless squeak as she does. Lyll stumbles a little but manages to backstep and avoid being taken down, blinking in surprise at the suddenness of what just happened.

Lyll hunches down, more confused than concerned. "Angel-nii? Oppai-nee-san? Are you okay?" Her voice is curious. "That didn't happen when we left the first time."

Sunflash is pulled off balance towards the two, but manages to stutter step his way around the pile just enough to land on his side near them instead of on top. With a small groan, he pulls himself to a sitting position and rubs his unarmored shoulder for a moment. "...Well, that was still better than the last time I got teleported somewhere. Top marks, I think."

Ambience grunts faintly as he shifts, with intent to get up. "I'm okay. I guess I'm not really sur--" he stops as he realizes that he's not really being helped as he tries to get up.

Instead, Mollianne seems to snuggle down into him where she's landed on top, still wrapping her arms around his neck. "Just a few more minutes, this is nice," the siren says, unhelpfully.

Rolling his eyes from under the blindfold and knowing Mollianne doesn't weigh all that much overall, Ambience bodily lifts himself up with the siren still attached, getting first to his knees as Mollianne whines lightly in protest, then to his feet and bringing Mollianne up with him. He brushes himself off and glances over his shoulder, where Mollianne is just grinning away at him. "You're so helpful."

Lyll grins up at the two of them. "It looks like we're all okay, then." She turns to Sunflash. "We went through here on our way to the Festival. It's always dark, just like it is there!"

Ambience takes stock of their surroundings for a moment, and sighs. "I didn't account for the extra bodies, that time. Normally it wouldn't have been a problem. I'm just glad nobody was hurt." He sounds apologetic.

"Viorar does lend itself to some pretty neat star-watching, I'll agree." He smiles at Lyll before popping himself back up and stretching his shoulders out. "Well, did anyone need to check in somewhere before we start hot-footing it through the woods?"

Mollianne seems to think for a moment on that question, glancing northeastward toward somewhere specific. It's kind of amusing how fast she can go from being childish to serious as the atmosphere required. "Sori and Cassie left early because they were starting to hurt for girls at the nightclub..." She considers, before looking at Ambience briefly and then turning to Sunflash. "Actually, since you brought it up, I think that is a good idea. You should both go meet up with Hikari, and I will catch up with you once I make sure everything has been okay here over the last week."

Ambience looks somewhat alarmed at the sudden decision to split up, but before he can protest, Mollianne, seemingly knowing it was going to happen, puts a finger to his lips in a 'hush' manner. "I will be fine." The fact that she still looks very worn out, physically, doesn't back up her words very well, at least not as far as Ambience is concerned. She seemed to know this was coming, too. "That song does this to me every time. We discussed this a few months before the festival even took place, and I knew the risk. But, if it makes you feel better, it could have been much worse if you had not shown up. So that makes it okay, right?" Mollianne removes her finger, smiling genuinely.

Ambience still seems a little put out, but he wasn't going to argue. "I guess so. It isn't like I've ever been able to stop you before, whenever you decide to do something, anyway."

"See?" Mollianne beams. "That is just how easy it is."

Lyll looks between the two of them, then at Sunflash again. "If Oppai-nee-san says she'll be okay, we should trust her." Lyll tugs on Ambience's tunic. "But Hikari-san might not wait around forever, either. If the party is already over by the time we get there, that would be awful!" And Lyll's expression makes it obvious that it would, in fact, be quite awful if such a thing happened.

Sunflash gives a shrug at Ambience, nodding at Lyll. "They're both right, ya know. Mollianne knows how to handle herself, and we shouldn't keep Hikari waiting." He shifts from one foot to another for a moment, and seems to look off into the distance at nothing in particular as he continues. "I'm sure we're all nervous about splitting up after having just re-met, but that's no reason to make it harder on ourselves to do things that need done, either." He wasn't going to invoke saint murphy, but he knew everyone was thinking along those lines anyway.

Ambience nods understandingly. "Yeah, you're right." He looks pointedly at Mollianne. "Do what you need to do. I didn't come back so I could interfere in the life you already have." He hesitates for just a brief moment, but decides against making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be. "We'll meet you there when you're done."

Mollianne smiles knowingly at Ambience, and kneels for a moment, eye-level with Lyll. "Look after him for me while I am gone, okay?" She glances up at Sunflash, then at Lyll again, smirking. "Both of them."

Lyll gives a very blunt and purpose-filled nod. "I will, promise!"

Mollianne rises to her taloned feet once more, and with one more grin, unfolds her wings and promptly pushes herself off into the sky with a mighty flap, soaring off toward the northeast end of the city.

Ambience watches her go, but only for a moment before turning back to Sunflash. "Alright. Molly said Hikari's house is pretty easy to spot, so I suspect that we'll see it easy enough once we make it to the edge of the woods. It shouldn't be terribly far, if that's the case."

Unsure if he just had his life signed away or not, Sunny can't help but smirk at Lyll before rolling his shoulders in a loosening manner and inclining his head towards Ambience. "Can't disagree with the logic. It's been a while since I went north of the Swamp, so unless you need me too I'll probably let you take the lead."

"Yeah, that's fine. The swamp isn't something we need to worry about as long as we stay on the path." As if through mutual expectation, Ambience leaned down as Lyll raised her arms, the former lifting the latter up by her waist and settling her on his shoulders with practiced ease. Lyll grins happily from her new perch, taking in the scenery from her new vantage point. "An hour or so's walk, if even that." And with a last glance off in the direction Mollianne had previously flown, Ambience heads off toward the north, passing through the city streets and beyond into Zigolis Swamp.

*****

The swamp itself was not as difficult a travel as its geographical implication might have made it seem, and a hardened dirt road lead along the eastern edge of the swamp, designed primarily for merchants and caravans that were peddling wares and merchandise between Viorar and Kakariko Village, further north beyond the Faron Woods (because getting a wagon stuck in swamp bog pretty much meant the end of your trip, most of the time). Lyll chattered on endlessly with every new thing she saw, and Ambience answered questions and such with slight passiveness, as if he felt like she didn't care if she got a good answer, so long as she got -an- answer (and this was probably true).

In fact, the only thing that really gave Ambience pause along their way was, as they reached the northern brink of the swamp, a sky-blue wolf with a white underbelly and paws, seemingly out of place among the Porings and other swamp creatures that inhabited the area. Ambience stopped to watch as it carefully skulked about the edge of the swamp, its nose constantly sniffing the air as if trying to pick up some scent, but ultimately ignoring the travelers. Lyll also watched as it padded along, and pulled lightly on Ambience's sleeve from her perch. "Angel-nii, didn't we see one of those by my house last week? Why is it out here?"

Ambience considered, watching the wolf. "I'm not sure, Lyll. But I -am- pretty sure that that's a Howler, and that it isn't supposed to be out this way, or by your house, for that matter. They're -supposed- to be up in the forest where we had to go through to get to the festival grounds. Remember seeing them there, too?" Ambience seemed confused at the displacement, too, but also mostly unconcerned.

Lyll squinted. "Yeah, kinda." She probably had seen them, but likely wasn't paying close attention at the time, instead focusing on the excitement of the then-upcoming festival trip she'd been promised.

Sunflash has a frown on his face as he considers the Howler along with the other two. "I had kinda hoped this whole thing had just blown over while I was away, but apparently it's still going on." He seems to register something Lyll said, and peered at her. "You think you saw one these out by your house up north? It must be a more widespread issue than I'd realized...." After a few moments contemplation, he seemed to shake himself out of it. "Well, typically we should be able to ignore it. I've seen several out-of-place critters around here for the last year or so, but nearly all of them have been almost docile. Seem to just vanish when you take your eyes off them too." He added the last bit with an almost offended grumble, as if it was an almost personal attack that such a thing could happen.

Something in Sunflash's words needled lightly at the back of Ambience's mind, but he couldn't quite determine why. Given the nature and intent of their trip, and everything that had transpired over the last day or two, Ambience was not really in a frame of mind to think too deeply or involvedly in any one thing right now, and he just assumes to have a chat with Sunflash later about it, if he remembers to do so at all. "Well, as long as they aren't attacking people, I guess it's not that big of an issue. Maybe we'll just keep an eye on things and if something escalates, we'll address it from there." Ambience glanced upward as he started walking again, as the Howler had moved on since then. "We're almost there, Lyll. There's an opening between the swamp and the woods, and if Hikari's house is as visible as Molly said it was, we should be able to see it pretty easily once we get through here."

Lyll just grins happily atop Ambience's shoulders. "I wonder if they'll have cookies. We don't have them very often at my house because mama doesn't go into town that often for supplies. Papa and Roas-nii hunt for food in the woods, and mama buys whatever we need that goes together with the meat that they bring back from hunting. But it's usually not cookies. Sometimes, though!"

Ambience smirked to himself as Lyll prattled on. In truth, he was actually thankful for Sunflash's comment about the docile nature of the displacements that had been occurring, because even though he told Lyll he could protect them without his weapons, he didn't really want to be put in a position where he had to back up that boast.

For his part, Sunny seemed equal parts unconcerned about what else they might run into as well as lost in thought.
He'd been in these parts enough in the last few years to know roughly where Hikari's place must be, so he was just following along on auto-pilot at this point. ~Back in town for less than a day and you're already trying to find problems to dive back into.~

Ambience takes the notion of Sunflash's lack of concern, applies the logic that he's been aware of it for awhile now, and applies it to a total that equates to "another problem for another time" as they continue on and cross beyond Zigolis Swamp. And, true to the siren's word, it really wasn't long at all before the group came up on not one but two very large houses, almost side by side, designed with a subtle flair of unique architecture that still remains the majority of like what might be found in a major city. Still, they cast a looming presence over the edge of the Faron Woods simply BECAUSE they stand on their own, out here, so far from civilization. A log cabin or some such might not stand out, but these are definitely not log cabins. Ambience pauses some substance away, obviously impressed by it all. "I shouldn't be surprised, given they're apparently a family that almost singlehandedly hosts such a huge celebration every year, but I guess I just didn't know what to expect." Notably, the house on the left seems to have a bit more external decor than the other, including an outside picnic table, a family swing on the porch, and other homestyle amenities.

Lyll squirms atop Ambience's shoulders. "Wow! They must be rich!"

"Huh. I wonder why the two houses. I mean, I've heard of mother-in-law shacks, but..." Sunflash pauses his questioning to eyeball the decor for the left-most house. "...Or maybe one's for official showing, and the other is for actual living?"

As someone who'd never managed to progress past inn and roof living, the concept of just having two houses for different purposes gnawed at him more than he liked, but... He glances at the other two. "Any idea which door to knock on first?"

Ambience doesn't get a chance to postulate an answer, before the front door of the house on the left opens wide as they stand there contemplating, and a familiar woman comes out onto the porch to hang up what looks like a filled bird-feeder tube on a thick iron hook hanging down from a beam along the railing. Kaede Fukawa, as it were, looks up in their direction as she finishes setting up the bird's food and waves happily as she turns and goes back into the house, but not before she can be heard calling, "Hikari-chan! Motto takusan no tomodachi ga koko ni imasu!" She then disappears inside the house.

Ambience smirks, glancing between Sunflash and Lyll. "I think that answers that question for us." He takes the invitation and trods on up toward the house on the left, bouncing Lyll lightly as he goes along.

Lyll grins, glancing back at Sunflash. "Did you hear that, Sun-nii? We're friends now!"

"I get the feeling we might be the last ones to arrive, given the sound of it. But I heard that being fashionably late isn't a bad thing, sometimes." Ambience seems to be in a pretty good mood, all things considered and despite Mollianne not being present.

Sunny gave a light chuckle at Lyll's direction, "Always nice to get it confirmed, right?" He spoke up at Ambience's remark, following closely behind. "I once heard a saying in Shrike about wizards never being late nor early. We can probably use that as an excuse if we have to."

This actually gets a laugh out of Ambience when he hears it. "Well, that helps your case but doesn't do a whole lot for me."

Fortunately, though, he doesn't need to make a case, because as soon as they get close to steps leading up to the porch, the front door opens again and Hikari pokes her head outside to see who it is, then smiles big and opens the door wide. "There you are! Sephie's already here!" Her appearance is a bit of a changeup from her normal formal appearance that everyone is used to seeing, as she's currently showcasing a bright pink sweatshirt and purple denim jeans, with neither socks nor shoes to speak of, her toenails painted a soft baby blue color. On her sweatshirt is emblazoned the words 'Happiness is Heavenly', with a fancy halo design encasing the "is" between the two words.

Lyll squeaks and helps herself down from Ambience's shoulders in a hurried rush, bounding up the stairs (all of them at once, of course) ahead of Ambience and Sunflash. "Sorry we're late, probably!"

Hikari doesn't hesitate to reach down and scoop Lyll up, who hugs Hikari around the neck in greeting. Hikari, though, suddenly realizes that she's short one guest. "Molly isn't with you?" She seems surprised more than anything else.

A short nod is directed at Hikari. "She decided that checking in on the others at the club was a good idea. Honestly, I think she probably could've used a quick nap too, though I don't know if she'll bother." Sunny looked like he did know she wouldn't bother, but there's something to be said for being polite.

The wizard's attention seemed to be pulled off to the side, as if he was suddenly struck by the idea of birds invading the porch to claim the recently-filled birdfeeder, before literally shaking the thought off. As one does.

"Yeah," Ambience affirms after Sunflash comments. "She seems to regard that place and the ones she works with quite highly, so checking in after she's been gone a week was probably the right choice." Ambience is careful with his tonal inflection to not seem like he is implying anything one way or another over it. "But like Sunflash said, she'll probably be around in awhile. She can fly much faster than we walk, too."

That seems to be a good enough response for Hikari, who simply nods agreeable. "That works for me, then. Come on in!"

Hikari turns and heads into the house, and as Lyll is carried inside, the sound of her voice can be heard loudly saying, "Shitsurei shimasu!" and then immediately followed up with, "You're rich enough that you need two houses?", which is responded to with a loud laugh from Hikari herself.