The Party

## Darby Bluepetal

### **Intro**

Darby Bluepetal was born on a hot summer day in a small cabin on the edge of The Great Hyrule Forest, just outside of a small village called Minshi. She was born into a long lineage of Hylian wood elves. Her mother, Hillen Bluepetal was a seamstress and dressmaker but also tended to a very large garden of herbs & magical flowers that she sold. Her father, Ogel Bluepetal was a traveling merchant who was gone more than he was around, but when he came home he told her & her older brother all about his adventures across Hyrule. Then her older brother, Din Bluepetal  he was a quiet boy who excelled in archery & enjoyed helping his mother tend to his garden. Din & Darby were close, they spent hours playing in the woods, climbing trees, befriending the woodland animals, & catching toads at a small pond in the woods.

### **Her Beginning**

The first time Darby stole anything was when she was 10. She accompanied her mother to a clients house for a dress fitting. The client was a wealthy women in the village. While her mother talked to the women, Darby laid eyes on the prettiest trinket box she had ever seen. It was a small golden square box adorned with different color jewels that sat on a small bookshelf in the corner of the room. All she knew is she HAD to have it, she quietly shoved it in her small pouch that she normally used to carry toads in. Later that night while playing in her room with her new trinket box her mother caught her. This started an extremely long game of her mother doing extra “dress checks” & social visits, so she could quietly return the items her daughter kept stealing. But if there was anything Darby loved as much as catching toads, it was games. Darby had new rules when visiting the homes of her mothers clients with her, she had to stand off to the side of the room within her mothers eyesight & keep her hands folded in front of her. But that never stopped her, instead it made her even sneakier & better at stealing. Over the next 100 years, her mother & brother followed behind Darby trying to fix everything she destroyed. She was a trouble maker & tended to cause some distraction, but she was likeable & the villagers enjoyed her company. Eventually though Darby grew bored, the village & the woods were fun but she wanted more. She wanted to explore & see all the places her father talked about. That’s when she saw her chance.

A flyer was posted at the town board “Gideon’s Traveling Circus” That evening she marched into the kitchen & announced to her mother & brother that she was joining the circus. Her mother just shook her head as this was just another one of her schemes. But Darby just explained that this was her dream & no one could stop her. Her mother said she supported her in anything she wanted to do. Her brother said he would come visit her & Darby left. She packed very little but a few snacks & her trusty toad pouch & walked to the huge tent being set up in the village square. There is where she met the ring master Gideon, he was a short & ugly gnome who had a bad attitude & smelt like fish left out in the sun. He told her she could join for 10 coin a day cleaning up after the animals. Darby agreed & then met her best friend Elda. Elda was a tall elf from East Nucluda, she was thin & graceful and one of the magic acrobatic performers & now Darbys new roommate. Elda was not pleased by this because as it came to be, Darby was an acquired taste. Eventually they became friends. & Darby felt at home in the small travel caravan. Elda eventually spent a lot of time erasing the memory of Gideon & fellow circus performers to keep Darby out of trouble. That’s all Darby was, trouble. She released all the animals of the circus because they hated Gideon (just like she did), she had set the big tent on fire more than six times (accidental), she stole trinkets & coin from fellow circus performers & workers, she broke the nose of the juggler trying to convince him that she too could juggle (she could not), but that’s just a few incidents from her long list of trouble. Elda kept all these memories in sealed jars hidden throughout their caravan. Since there were no longer animals in the circus, Darby became a performer. She did acrobatic fire archery, along side Elda & she finally felt as though she had found her place. She was traveling, catching toads across the land, meeting new people, & having a good time. Until one night when everything went south.

After the show, outside of Hyrule in a large town Darby & some of the fellow performers decided to visit a tavern in town. Hours & hours & way too much ale later the drunken performers made their way back to their campsites. Darby &  a fellow performer, Rabog, who was a large Barbarian & strong man, got into a small fight & made a bet. Darby took her trusted bow, lit up 3 fire arrows & attempted to aim at 3 apples lined up on a log outside of her caravan. She had to shoot 3 arrows at a time & hit all 3 apples at the same time. Darby only hit 1 apple. The other 2 fire arrows hit her & Eldas wooden caravan, it lit up immediately. Elda, also extremely drunk placed her hand on Darbys shoulder & said “You can only take a memory once, you need to run. I will miss you” That sobered Darby up quick. The hiss & crackle of the burning caravan, the small little glittering puffs of memories escaped & raced back to their original owners. She didn’t run until she saw the lights from the first caravan shoot on. That was Gideon, he didn’t like her & now with his new memories she was sure he REALLY didn’t like her. She didn’t know what he was capable of but she had some theories as people who did him wrong would mysteriously “leave” never to be seen or heard from again. So Darby took off running through the woods, now alone & still kinda drunk she kept running.

Days later & a lot of walking later Darby arrived at another town, she wandered the street, pick pocketing people as she went. She hadn’t been able to grab any coin from her burning caravan so she had to get some money some how. She walked into a small diner to take a rest. Ordered some tea & got cozy in her booth when she saw it. A huge picture of her, on a country newspaper “WANTED REWARD FOR WHEREABOUTS” in bold print over the top. So Darby did the only thing she could, she rented a nights stay at the inn, hiding under her cloak, under a fake name. In that room she took her dagger & chopped off her long brown hair into a ragged short cut, & planned her route to no where in particular. But possibly somewhere far away from Gideon.