A/N: Incidentally, this story was written while listening to the dungeon ambience ("Dungeon") from Wind Waker; it is, I find, suitably melancholy.
The name of the Hero is not mentioned at all in this story, and that is intentional; you can assume his name is Link, or you can assume otherwise. I, for example, generally give him a different name on my second (and beyond) playthroughs of each game, from Seamus (though admittedly that was in Twilight Princess) to, shamelessly, Zidane (my clear-game file on Wind Waker). And yes, I know that he is not officially given the title "Hero of Winds" until later than when this story occurs (immediately after the Earth Temple), but I had to call him something.
Though it is not stated in the story, it begins at night on Dragon Roost, at the balcony/cliffside where you found Medli playing her harp.
"Tell me!"
There was less of the courageous young man and more of the lost, immature fledgling in Komali's voice, but the Hero of Winds knew that the prince was justified. He flinched at the boy Rito's shout, turning away with a guilty look on his face.
"Tell me, swordsman," Komali demanded again, desperately. "Where is she? Where has she gone?" When the Hero failed to respond, the Rito prince grabbed at his sword arm. Reflexes born of long and terrible battles gave the Hero dexterity enough to slip through his grasp. Komali stumbled, falling awkwardly to his knees, and the Hero wordlessly offered his hand; it was rejected, pushed away violently, and Komali got back to his feet on his own.
"Why won't you tell me? Don't… don't you ever speak?"
The guilty look returned to the Hero's eyes; what did he dare tell him? Medli had all but demanded that he not tell Komali that she was anything more than an attendant. But she had also given him the task of protecting the boy prince, in the event that she wasn't able to.
"If you're under some vow of silence, then at least write! Tell me, somehow… Where is Medli? Where…?" The pleading had turned almost to sobs, and for a moment the Hero of Winds saw the scared young boy clutching protectively at Din's Pearl.
Did this count as protecting him? The Hero wanted to think so: Komali was impulsive and blindly courageous, much like himself. If he told the boy nothing, odds are he would take off himself to find his former attendant-in-training. But if he told him everything, he would be breaking his promise to Medli.
It fell, he supposed, to the lesser of two evils.
The Hero of Winds reached into one of his pockets, and it fell upon Tetra's charm. How he longed to ask her—or even Daphnes, the King-of-Red-Lions—for advice! But she was below the ocean, sealed within the magical barrier that kept Old Hyrule dry beneath the waves; and he, the boat that spoke, never uttered a word unless the Hero was alone or with one of the Sages.
He let out a silent sigh, fishing into another pocket, pulling out his Sea Chart. His inherent honesty won out, as always. He hoped Medli would forgive him.
* * *
The Hero reeled, stumbling backwards from the force of the blow. He lost his balance, and, his hat muffling the noise a little, smashed his head against the cliff's rail. Everything momentarily disappeared in a flash of white and pain—the Hero let out a grunt as the sharp bottom of the Mirror Shield cut into one of his legs. When his sight returned, the Hero was alone.
He pulled himself to his feet, leaning heavily on the rail. He unslung sword and shield from his back momentarily, and tried to rub away the pain. There would be a nasty bump on his head, he knew.
"Hey!" A bass voice erupted from his pocket, and the Hero fished out Tetra's charm. "I take it that did not go as well as you had hoped."
The Hero shook his head, bending down to pick up the Master Sword and slung it across his back again. As he returned the Mirror Shield to the same place, Daphnes continued, "I saw him flying to the south, toward the Earth Temple; your Sea Chart was in his possession."
The Hero checked his pockets, only to find the boat was right. He had lost both his Sea Chart at the map of the Earth Temple. The Wind Waker was still his; and Komali had failed to take his sail, as well.
"Forgetfulness?" wondered the King-of-Red-Lions, "Or perhaps he wants you to follow?"
The Hero of Winds shrugged.
"It is imperative that you find the Wind Sage; however, I assume I am right in thinking that you want to assure the Rito prince's safety?"
The Hero nodded.
"If we use Cyclos' power, we may arrive ahead of him," suggested Daphnes as the Hero grabbed the charm out of the air and stuffed it back into his pocket.
"But it is your choice. Perhaps it is best to give them a little time together," continued the voice of his boat as the Hero of Winds began to make his way back down through the Rito aerie.
* * *
The flight gave Komali time to think.
He wondered if he'd done the right thing, attacking the Hero as he had. But if the Hero had been smart, he'd not have shown Komali at all. The Rito prince felt bad that he'd taken advantage of the Hero's blind trust, but…
He had to find Medli.
He didn't know why. He knew what love felt like and he knew that what he felt for her was not love, as such… but an attraction just as strong, one borne of the years the two had spent together. Those years were small in number, but Komali had experienced much since Medli had become his attendant.
Besides, he owed her… something.
The wind shifted, and the sudden gust under Komali's wings almost made him seize up and retract his wings; but the Rito prince recovered after a moment, and allowed himself to glide for a few minutes, taking advantage of the Hero's necessity of changing the wind to suit his needs.
There he was again, taking advantage of things the Hero had no control over.
Komali caught that thought, and held it and beat at it with a mental Boko stick but eventually let it go because he knew there was nothing for it.
What did he owe her? He owed her for all the times she had sought to show him the greater world, all the time she had spent trying to get him to open up; he had failed to repay her then, fearful and introverted, clutching to the warm light of Din's Pearl as a cure-all for his fears. He had barely said anything to her after he'd gained his wings, too busy preening himself and boasting of the time that he'd saved the Hero of Winds. He'd been chosen by the great Valoo Himself, had been there when the sky spirit had unleashed His holy flame upon the ungodly shadow at Forsaken Fortress. Medli had stood quietly by, and he had ignored her.
His father the Chieftain told him that silence was the mark of a good servant; but Komali didn't want Medli to be a good servant if a good servant did nothing but stand by and watch her master sin.
He landed at the place marked on the Hero's map as Headstone Island, and immediately dove for cover at the sound of cannon fire. Apparently evil was at work even here.
The bomb exploded against the stone of the island, and Komali took his chances, running for the cave that the Hero's notes said led into the Temple. There was the sound of more cannon fire behind him, and with an earth-shattering shifting of rock the entrance caved in behind him.
* * *
He spent a long time wandering the darkness, evading the minions of the evil one that had invaded and settled into the temple. They themselves were jumpy and suspicious, and at one point Komali heard a Moblin grunt about ghosts. The Rito wondered if coming here had been such a good idea…
But he had to find Medli.
The Earth Temple was a dreary place, populated by the dying and the dead, less a sanctuary than a crypt. Komali wasn't sure that it was apt to call it a temple any more.
He spent a long time in the darkness, and lost his way several times. The blue fog that covered some of the chambers befuddled and confused him, and left him defenseless against the shadowy hands that reached from the dark holes.
Frustrated and lost and injured, the Rito prince collapsed. He had failed; he no longer knew where he was, and had no hope of finding Medli. Perhaps it would have been smarter if he'd never come…
And then, suddenly, a light in the darkness. A white streak pierced the dreary shadows of the temple, and the Hero of Winds appeared, holding his conductor's baton aloft. It was glowing slightly, giving off a pure magical light that dispelled the gloom that had clutched at Komali's heart.
"Hero…" he whispered, and the boy in green nodded.
"Forgive me," Komali begged, and the Hero smiled, silently stretching out his hand. This time Komali took it, and the two set off into the darkness.
* * *
"Here?" asked Komali as they stopped in front of a massive stone door. The Hero nodded, reaching for a release on one side of the door. The portal lifted, and the Hero gestured for Komali to go in. "But what about you?"
The Hero shook his head, and gestured more forcefully for Komali to go.
"But… Don't you want to see her?"
The Hero gave him a surprised look, as though he'd not expected this question. The moment passed, however, and, very slowly, he nodded.
"Then… You're giving me time…?"
A nod.
"You don't have to…"
Another gesture.
"…I'll come let you in in a few minutes, then," Komali resolved, and the Hero nodded again. The Rito prince entered the chamber, and the door slammed shut behind him.
And there she was.
She was as he remembered her, playing her harp. She sat before a glowing mark upon the floor, three golden triangles arranged in a larger triangle, and music poured from her instrument as though in prayer to the gods.
The song was one he'd never heard before, but one that carried a strange hope and familiarity. Though he was dying to speak, to let Medli know he was there, he said nothing, not daring to interrupt the song.
It continued for several minutes uninterrupted. Komali imagined she'd never even heard the door open and shut. Finally, when it ended, he tried to say her name, but all that came out was a childish whine, as though he were nothing more than a just-hatched fledgling. The noise was enough, however, and his former attendant turned. When she saw him, she gasped.
"Komali!"
"Medli…"
"Why are you here?"
"The Hero…"
* * *
The Hero of Winds did not wait.
He had not lied to Komali: Yes, he had wanted to see Medli again; but he had come straight from here to Dragon Roost in the first place, and knew that nothing would have changed in the day or so that he'd been gone.
He wanted to see her again, anyway, and his heart ached as he forced himself to find his way back to the surface (he had grabbed the map back from Komali). But he knew that there were more important things. Perhaps, a long time ago, when he wasn't yet a Hero, he might have stayed, selfish and obstinate; but now the fate of the entire Great Sea—and beyond it—rested upon his shoulders, and he knew it was more important that he find Makar and reawaken his identity as a Sage. He already had the song necessary… But he had found himself passing the Haven entirely, heading straight for Dragon Roost. Even now, he wasn't sure why.
It was daytime at last when the Hero emerged above ground again. The enemy ship had moved off for once, and after grabbing a meal from his stores aboard the King-of-Red-Lions he sat down and waited.
A pillar of light emerged from the Temple below, and Komali solidified out of it a moment later. When his ruby eyes found the Hero's, he looked disappointed.
"Hero, why did you leave? I thought you wanted to see her…"
The Hero didn't make a response, finishing his meal and standing back up. The Rito prince looked drained, and the Hero gestured to Dragon Roost on his chart, then to his boat, then to Komali.
The Rito nodded, and together they got onto the Hero's boat. The wind shifted as the Hero moved his baton with a practiced grace.
Komali stared back at Headstone as the island drifted out of sight behind them.
"Hero," he said, after the island had disappeared altogether. The green-clad boy looked up at him, surprised. "Thank you."
The Hero looked confused.
"…Thank you for giving me a chance to… say goodbye."
The Hero nodded.
"You will go back, right? Medli does want to see you again."
Another nod. That was it. No words, not even a flicker of emotion. Was that the price of being a Hero? Komali wondered. Forced to hide your emotions for fear of being seen as less than you were?
There was silence for the rest of the trip. Dragon Roost soon appeared on the horizon, and the Hero pulled up to it, gave Komali a chance to get off, and turned about to head south without so much as a farewell.
His father was waiting for him, worried; he was scolded, as he knew he would be. But later, when he had returned to his room, he found an envelope on his bed that hadn't been there when he'd left the island.
Komali,
You're welcome. I forgive you. And I'm sorry I lied to you before.
Signed in the Hero's name, and with his plain handwriting. Komali sighed and dropped onto his bed, searching for the sleep he'd been deprived of on Headstone.
* * *
The boat drifted up to the Forest Haven, and the Hero skillfully maneuvered the tiller so as to get as close to the island as he could. He leapt from the King-of-Red-Lions and pulled himself up onto a low outcropping, his ears already picking up the sound of Makar's violin-cello. He made to take a step forward, to continue his journey; but his gaze wandered back north, though at this distance he could barely see the Tower of the Gods, let alone Dragon Roost.
"You did what you thought was the right thing," said Daphnes behind him. "There is no place for doubt or misgiving in your heart, boy; and no time for those feelings in any case. Your task is to awaken Makar. Go," he added when the Hero did not move. "You have done what needed to be done; you must continue to do so. Find Makar."
The Hero nodded, finally tearing his gaze from the north. He pulled out his grappling hook…from Medli…and began climbing up the lower parts of the island, listening closely to the sound of Makar's song.
* * *
It took a long time for Medli to get back to her prayers; she hoped the gods didn't mind. She kept going over their conversation in her mind, and despite the fact that she felt she should be angry at the Hero she could only feel gratitude. Maybe it had been wrong to have left as she had, and wrong to force the Hero to promise not to tell Komali anything.
That one was moot, she mused, since the Hero had already told the truth.
"H…here," said Komali, pulling a flower from his satchel. "I picked this for you… I was going to give it to you, but then you disappeared…"
She accepted it, tears already brimming in her eyes. Komali was already reaching into his satchel again.
"And…when I went to get it, I had to stop a Kargaroc, too. Maybe the fight wasn't as pretty as the Hero's might have been, but… I did get a Golden Feather for it. My first one ever." He pulled it out, and it glowed with its own pale light in the half-darkness of Jalhalla's chamber. "I wanted to give it to you, too. To show you how brave…" He trailed off, words turning into choking sobs.
Medli rushed forward to support him as he fell against her, and they cried together for a time.
"I missed you…"
"I missed you, too, my prince…"
She had the Golden Feather out now. It still carried its glow, though it seemed to her to be fading.
Tears filled her eyes again. She had left all of it behind without so much as a goodbye, her life of Dragon Roost, the Chieftain, even Komali. She knew it could be days or even weeks before she could leave: there could be no risk of the Master Sword giving out before Ganon's defeat.
But as she sat down to play again, and to pray, she set the feather into a crack in the stone before her, and its glow covered the downy feathers on her face and reflected the tears in her eyes. Somehow, to her, it glowed even brighter than the Triforce.
A/N: I'm going to be honest and say I don't know where I was going with this. I started writing it last night, and ran out of time; I had the entire plot laid out in my mind, and by the time I was able to finish it today I'd forgotten most of it. Thus the end of the story has an entirely different feel from the beginning.
Ah well. It's still a little touching, I think.
Perhaps now with this plot bunny out of the way, I can get back to more serious writing…
Reviews and such are welcome. I'll even take a few saying this was a bad story, if you feel that way, ha, ha.
Good day.