Providence, Somewhere

Mellori Is Missing

Next day, the town hall was as full as possible with all the town's residents, willing and reluctant alike. Forutnately for Zelda, she was more than willing to join in the meeting, despite it looking rather intimidating. She should be used to crowds, right? Even as a princess in the public eye, she should be used to it all, right?

Why was the sight of, at most sixteen, people looking at the stage nerve-wracking?

Sitting to the right of the stage, she glanced elsewhere. Eclipsa had yet to appear, and looking back, stage left, sat a girl with pink hair, her leg in a thick boot. The girl tapped her finger on her leg nervously as well.

She then looked forward. Marcy waved discreetly at her.

Eventually, Eclipsa emerged onstage. "Good morning, fellow townsfolk," she said. "We have a few things to cover today. First—" She motioned towards her left, stage right. "We do have someone new in our midst. So, how about we give a warm welcome to Zelda, originally from Hyrule."

Eclipsa smiled and clapped politely, facing Zelda, whilst the rest of the crowd clapped as well in multiple different moods. Eclipsa then motioned for Zelda to come center stage. "Come, dear. Introduce yourself in some way."

Zelda stood up, walking to meet Eclipsa center stage. The applause died down, and truly all eyes were on her. "Well, hello," she said, waving at the audience. "As Eclipsa had said, I am indeed Zelda. It's nice to meet you all, and I hope we'll get to know each other even more as time goes on." She sighed as she returned to her seat amidst another round of applause. "That could've been worse," she whispered to herself. She glanced at the girl in pink, who returned her gaze with a warm smile.

"Wonderful introduction, Zelda," Eclipsa continued, stepping back to center. "As is protocol, she is provided a room to stay in until she chooses a place for herself and a position to aid the town. No pressure, of course!" She glanced empathetically, then turned back towards the audience with a solemn expression. "But alas, the good news is only a shield for the bad news to come. With that, I'll let Miss Aelita take over."

With the crutches, Aelita struggled briefly to stand, but she was aided by Eclipsa, who nodded and whispered something to her.

"Hi, friends," the girl said. "There's been an unfortunate incident which has happened while me and my crew were in the field, investigating a way to halt the Distortion or drive it further. To put it simply, the containment device didn't work and I think the Distortion mutated."

There was an audible gasp present, which seemed to be shared amongst a few of the townsfolk. A general unease made its way through the room.

"Hold on a second," said the thickly-accented Dexter. He stood up sternly. "There is no way for my devices to fail. Clearly something went wrong with the installation."

"How about you go and install it yourself?" Sunset said angrily, standing up. "We were in the tunnels when the device cracked. The seal on the glass was broken."

"May I recall that one of you has butterfingers?"

"That has nothing to do with it! If you knew we were clumsy you'd have fortified the thing!"

Zelda looked around; she needed something to distract the two from their argument on who messed up. She stood up, walking over to Eclipsa and Aelita, the former comforting the latter through a hug.

"What now?" Zelda asked Eclipsa.

"Whistle, darling. You know how to, right?"

Zelda nodded. Stepping aside, she blew a sharp whistle, one which drew the attention away from the fight. And which distracted the ones who were fighting.