In Amber Clad
"But Link, you've got to buy it!"
"Why?"
"Because it's so…so…pretty!"
"And expensive."
"It's got a bug inside it! How can you refuse to buy something with a bug inside it?"
"My sister used to put butterflies in bottles. Didn't mean she claimed they were worth sixty rupees."
"Um…"
"Then again, I did put fairies in bottles when I was sailing the Great Sea. They were great for healing me if I needed it."
"Okay, forget it."
Link didn't smirk. He felt like doing so, but his mouth wouldn't move in place. Maybe it was because he knew that Ciela was just being friendly, and that talk of fairies in bottles wasn't something that she wanted to hear. Or that the longer he spent here bickering, the longer Tetra was a prisoner. And buying some goron amber wasn't going to help in rescuing her.
"But it is quite nice isn't it?" Ciela ventured as they made their way through the town. "I mean, I know I'm just a fairy…"
"No," Link said, and his new friend looked at him. "I mean, don't say you're just a fairy."
Ciela seemed a bit brighter. He turned away. He felt even odder now. Every once in awhile, when he'd been on the pirate ship, he'd say something that would make the crew look at him as if he'd uttered words of profound insight. Though, granted, maybe as a counterbalance to Tetra teasing him about whether he wanted to return to Outset Island.
Which, right now, was another thing he was unsure about. Because here, on this island, deep to the south, he found it…fulfilling, he decided. That the sea was not as empty as Ganondorf had claimed. Even now, he pitied the man, though how a child could pity someone older, and in the end, wiser than he was, he couldn't say. But he understood his desperation. Finding civilization at all was a boon.
"The amber," Link said eventually, "I wonder how it's formed?"
"Oh, that's easy," piped up Ciela, dancing in front of his eyes. "Amber comes from tree sap. It becomes hardened after being stored deep underground for hundreds and thousands of years."
"Hundreds and thousands?"
"Well, a long time at least. Then, it's dug up." She giggled. "And it has insects in it!"
"Yeah, I remember." Link glanced back at the store – it wasn't a bad place really, at least judging by the shield he'd bought from them. "Funny, isn't it?"
"What is?"
"How…" He bit his lip. Did Ciela know of the legend of the sunken kingdom? If so, would it be wise to reveal the truth, that that kingdom was gone forever? That the goddesses had persevered it, while drowning the rest of the world, leaving only scattered islands and scattered peoples? "How do you know so much about amber?" he asked eventually.
It wasn't the question he wanted to ask. But these thoughts in his mind, he couldn't bring voice to them. As if his mind had aged, but his body hadn't.
"Well, I do a lot of reading," the fairy explained. "I mean, reading's supposed to make you smarter, isn't it? So I thought, if I read, I could, y'know, get my memory back. After all…"
Link let her talk. He took off his cap, brushing the sweat from his hair. He reflected on the amber. Preserved, like the sunken kingdom. Recovered, like the sunken kingdom. And free to be returned to the world. Unlike the kingdom. Unlike the people that had once dwelt in it.
"So yeah," said Ciela. "That's how I know so much about amber. Any questions?"
Link remained silent as he put on his hat.
"Link?"
"The amber," he mused.
"What?"
"You're right," he said, thinking of what he'd seen. Of Aryl and his grandmother. Or Medli and Makar. Of Tetra. "She is quite pretty."
"Pardon?"
"It. I mean it." He glanced at Ciela. "The amber's quite pretty."
"Oh yes," Ciela exclaimed. "I mean, you sure you don't want to take another look at it? I mean-"
"I'm still not buying it."
"…darn."
For the first time since the Ghost Ship, Link smiled.
Amber persevered. Amber endured. Amber could be recovered in time. The insect freed, if the owner desired it.
He could only hope he could do the same for Tetra.
A/N
This was written early on while playing Phantom Hourglass, when things like goron amber seemed expensive. Now, having reached the point where rupees are no longer an issue for me, it seems a bit trivial now.
Now going through the Temple of the Ocean King for the bazillionth time...ugh.