Gone

"'Hoy, Big Brother!", Link heard his sister calling. He looked over to the bridge. She was on the other side waving at him.

"Aryll?", first shocked, he took a look around in the sky. It looks like that giant bird gave up and flew away, he can't see it anywhere and a creature of that size is hard to miss. Relieved, he waved back at her and shouted: "Stay where you are, ok? Everything is fine!" He saw her nodding, then walking a few steps backwards to make way to cross the bridge.

"So this is, um, Outset, right?", he heard from behind. Tetra walked right next to him and took a look around. "It looks nice" She smiled at him.

Link smiled back. But still something felt off. Why is she so much wanted, that a dangerous bunch of monsters had to disturb the peace of a place like this?

Almost lost in thought, he found a small dark spot in the sky behind her growing bigger. Link's eyes widened. It's the Helmaroc King! Tetra and Gonzo followed his look and as Gonzo recognized it, he grabbed his captain and hid under a tree with her. She didn't even struggle, she knew it was coming after her. But Link knew that's not true. The growing shadow in front of the midday sun headed into a different direction than toward this side of the island. It was the opposite side, where his sister sat on top of it on a small rock...

"No...", he whispered and ran across the bridge. He forgot the small gap in the middle and stumbled almost through it, but he caught himself on the next board and hastily climbed back up. "Aryll!", he shouted while climbing, she was already on the end of the bridge, looking worried. "Big Brother, be careful! What are you doing?", she shouted back.

Link ran forward to the other side, when he heard the Bird screeching, ready to attack. It's getting closer. "RUN!", he screamed. She reacted to the big bird gliding towards her and tried to hide away. Are his eyes getting wet or is he losing eyesight because he's falling unconscious?

The bridge couldn't handle so many quick movements at the same time and swung back and forth, forcing Link to keep his balance and slow down. He held onto the ropes, one by one with each step. Finally, he reached the other side, but it's too late. He saw the back of his screaming sister getting covered by giant talons and moving upwards.

He shouted her name, crying and shouting, and ran to the bird that just took off into the sky again. He reached the cliff and jumped as high as he could to grab his little sister out of those talons, but they were out of reach. He fell down deep towards the ocean with stalagmites waiting beneath it. But instead of the expected end, something caught him in the middle of the air by his tunic and sweeped down to the bottom. Link looked above him, it was Quill! He dropped him onto the soft sand of the small beach to the north, Link ran to the shore, watching the giant bird flying away with Aryll in its talons while she screamed: "Big Brother!"

No, he can't let it get away! Link looked around and spotted the fishing boats. He ran to the jetty, untied one of them and jumped into it. The paddles were already in position, he sat down and grabbed each by their ends, when suddenly Orca jumped in front of him. The boat tottered a lot, but the old man found the balance by taking Link's hands. "What do you think are you doing?", he said angrily. Link struggled. "What do you think are you doing? I have to save Aryll!"

He tried to push Orca out of the boat with a two-legged kick, but the tall man quickly found his balance and leapt forward to grab the kid.

Reflexively, Link took out the right paddle and grabbed it with both hands holding it like a protective staff. Orca pushed against it. "You can't, Link! You'll be too slow in this raft. Then what will you do? You will be stuck in the middle of the ocean with no supplies or weapons not knowing where to go and freezing to death. Who could save your sister then?"

Link kept pushing. Eyes filling with tears. He looked to the background where the Helmaroc King flew further and further, way out of reach. No! He can still make it! Link took a short momentum and with all his strength pushed the old man to the boat's ground. Shortly dazed, Orca sat back up, quickly ducked down from Link's swung with the paddle and pulled him down to his side. From that pull, Link let go of the paddle and was ready to wrestle out of Orca's surrounding grab, when he noticed that he softly stroke the back of his head. Now he's confused, but Link still tried to struggle.

Then he realized: Orca was hugging him. An attempt to comfort. His shivering struggle stopped, his anger and fear turned into calm and sadness. Link couldn't do anything but loosely watch the giant bird disappearing into the horizon until his tears blinded him. He laid his head on Orca's shoulder.

She's gone. There's nothing he can do.