Hey, welcome to my second Zelda Fanfic, Winds of Change. This is a direct sequel to my last one. If you haven't read that one already, go do that. It's fairly long, but you'll be lost in the plot otherwise. If you have already read Lei's Crystal, please continue.
The speaking is fairly similar to how it was in the last one. Except, there's more then one language used frequently. So one of the languages is going to be blocked off «like so» while the other is completely normal. Just to try and spare you some confusion, because I don't want to always specify the language, and then it would just get complicated. Oh, and this one is not going to be in chapter subdivides like the last one. Lei's Crystal had like over 40 chapters in the end on the site, but it was only 21. That's a little daunting.
So, without further ado. Because that cliffhanger in the last one was painful. Enjoy.
He was floating in a sea of white. His back was soaked with salt water while his front felt as though it were being burned. He tried to open his eyes, but found himself too weary to do so. A memory floated through his mind. He remembered the form of a beautiful woman being surrounded by a white light.
"Zelda! Don't!"
He wondered who Zelda was and why he had shouted for her to stop whatever it was that she was doing. He remembered a lot of pain in the memory. Then he remembered that a man of tremendous evil had stabbed him in the chest. His lungs had been pierced; he was drowning in his own blood when Zelda, whoever she was, had done that. He thought that maybe she was going to try and save him, and that she would have died if she did so. He wondered why he had thought that and couldn't come up with a reason.
He heard voices. He recognized one. It was the goddess Faeore's.
"I understand how your weapon works, Lei, but Hyrule will need Link in his time."
"I am the goddess of time, Faeore, but I cannot control its ebb and flow. Link will need to return himself to his own time. I cannot do that."
"And what about Zelda?"
"Nayru, your Bearer will be perfectly unharmed. She was not meant to use my crystal, but she did so in a rash decision to save the Hero of Time. As Lei's Crystal has no evil force attached to it, she was not sacrificed. However, since she cannot control time like Link can, she inadvertently transported them to a different time."
"But can they be returned, sister?"
"Oh yes. There is a great evil in the Hyrule they are in now. To go back, that evil must be destroyed. Then they will be able to find my crystal and Link will be able to transport them back."
"Right. That evil has your crystal, right?"
"Correct, Din. It is a source of great power for that evil. They feed off of it. Link will not be able to get it back peacefully."
The white faded from his mind. The voices continued conversing, but he could no longer understand what they were saying.
"MAN OVERBOARD!"
He felt something grab his waist. He felt his body be dragged through water and then hauled out.
He smelled salt. He heard the sound of seagulls crying in the sky. Perhaps he was at the ocean of Greater Termina or in the Great Bay. He was hauled upwards for a long period of time before he hit a wooden deck. Perhaps a fishing ship. The voice had been male, so it couldn't have been the Pirates in the Great Bay. He thought it was either the fisher in the Great Bay or one of the fishermen in Greater Termina. Though, even so, he didn't understand why the speaker's words hadn't made sense to him.
He opened his eyes slowly and saw a huge man standing over him, blocking the sunlight. He had a discolored nose, dark eyes, and wore a red bandana.
He groaned and stood up, shaking the green tunic that garbed him. He felt his back and felt his shield and his sheath. There was no weapon inside it, however. He sighed.
"Linkuu, I was worried that you had drowned. How are you doing?" Another person said. His time the speaker was a woman. He turned and looked at her. She had pale blonde hair and dark skin. He figured she had spent long hours in the sun. She had two scimitars around her waist, held in place by a large red sash. She wore purple and blue clothing. Her speech, too, did not make sense.
He shook his head, trying to show that he couldn't understand a word that she said.
«Link!» A voice called out that he recognized. He looked and saw a blue fairy fly in front of his face. «You're alive. Thank goodness. I thought you were going to die! Hey. Are you alright?»
«Navi.» He replied vocally. His voice was hoarse, but he didn't care.
«Hey, you talk now. That's good. Listen, where do you think we are?»
He shook his head again and shrugged his shoulders. Link looked around the boat he was on and jumped back. It was enormous. He had never seen a boat so large in his life. Link looked around, on all sides, the horizon was water meeting with sky. There was no land in sight, not even small islands. It was only at one point that he saw a pinprick of a tower at the edge of the horizon. He looked around in shock.
The woman spoke again. "Linkuu, what's wrong? You act like you've never seen the ocean before." She paused and examined him. "What happened with your outfit? And where's your boat?" Link stared at her, trying to understand what she was saying. He couldn't make sense of her words. "Why don't you respond, Linkuu?"
He shook his head again. Then Link looked at Navi curiously.
«I'm sorry, Link. I don't understand her either.» He sighed.
The woman stared at him for a while longer. Then she turned to the men that surrounded them. "Continue to Windfall Island. Maybe someone there could find out what's wrong with Linkuu."
"Yes, ma'am." They replied in unison. Link shook his head again. Their words made no sense to him. The men saluted to her and ran off. Link walked to the side of the boat and leaned on the railing. He looked at the sea. He wondered where he was now.
Her body was alive with pain. She was suffering, and she felt as though her body had become alight with black flames. Although she was gently bobbing with the ebb and flow of a body of water, she could hear nothing around her. But light burned through her closed eyelids, almost as though she were in a vast white space. Through her mind a line came to her. She remembered the body of a strong man convulsing as blood fell from the corners of his mouth.
"No. I will not allow you to die, Link."
She wondered who this Link was and why she hadn't wanted him to die or why he was going to die for that matter. She remembered a lot of sorrow in the memory. Then she remembered that a sinister man that had tormented her was the cause of what had happened to her. He had run Link, whoever he was, through with a nefarious blade and he was dying as blood spilt from his body. She thought of an object that could save Link if she used it, but it would have cost her life. She wondered why she had wanted to save this Link so badly, and couldn't come up with a reason.
She heard voices. They were four female voices.
"Can he even get it back from that evil, Lei? That's the question."
"Well, Nayru, I expect that you would know such things."
"I am the goddess of wisdom, Lei. I cannot predict the future. That is your task."
"Very well. There is no concern over that. Link will triumph over his darkness."
"And the darkness of the others that have been summoned?"
"Naturally, Faeore. Why would you even ask that? Isn't he your hero?"
"Of course. But the hero is always chosen by me."
"He certainly has the strength to."
"You would be able to measure that, wouldn't you, Din?"
"Of course I would."
"But let us not forget about the Princess of Destiny. Even with his strength, Link will require her aide."
"What do you mean by that Lei?"
"Exactly how I said that."
"But are you going to allow her to live? After all, only the hero is supposed to use our weapons. Only they can wield it correctly."
"Of course. She's your chosen Bearer. I would not allow her to die. Besides, did you not hear me before, Nayru? She's been transported through time just like Link. She's very much alive. I wonder if you've been listening to me at all."
Reality came to her. The four continued to speak, but she was unable to understand what they said.
"Hm? Shipwreck survivor?"
She heard the sound of splashing, as though someone were trudging through waist deep water. Someone picked her up in their arms and carried her; she felt her body slowly rise above the water.
There was the sound of someone moving along sand. She had seen and heard sand once, at the Great Bay shore when she had been brought there. But the sound was easily recognized. Perhaps she was back in the Great Bay shore. There were many inhabitants in Termina, maybe one of them had seen her out in the water and had brought her back. She wondered why she would be in the Great Bay, however, and was unable to comprehend why that would be. And what was less understandable to her was the fact that although the voice had been male, she had not understood a single word that had been said.
There was the sound of a door being kicked open and she felt herself be placed on a soft bedspread a few steps later. She heard the person that had picked her up walk around what she presumed to be the bed, and felt as though she were being examined. She opened her eyes and looked at the person.
He had soft blonde hair and dark eyes. He wore a green tunic and lime green clothes underneath. She stared openly at him, wondering why he looked so familiar to her.
"I guess that you're up. Why do you look like King Daphnes got to you again, Tetra?"
She shook her head, she didn't understand a word he had just said.
"Tetra? You alright? And what happened to your pirate ship and your crew? Please don't tell me that you're in trouble again."
She sighed and spoke, «I am afraid that I do not understand you, but even so, you have my thanks for helping me.» Her voice was collected and strong. The young man seemed to be taken aback by her speech.
«Oh, I didn't know that you could speak ancient now, Tetra.» He replied, now speaking in a language that she understood. «Since when could you do that?»
«My name is not Tetra. It never has been. I am Princess Zelda. Who might you be?»
«I'm Linkuu. Come on, you don't remember me? Tetra's your pirate disguise, remember? You've only looked like Princess Zelda once in your life, when we were children.»
Zelda calmly got up from the bed and stood, facing Linkuu. «I do have a disguise, that is true. But the name of that guise is not Tetra. It is Sheik. And I have always looked like Princess Zelda, I was born to be the ruler of Hyrule.»
He frowned and examined her. «Now that I think about it, you do look a little different then you did then. But then that was seven years ago.» He smiled at her, «But you're sure you're not Tetra?»
«Yes.» She said firmly. «I can show you the only form that I can change into, if would help to disillusion you, Linkuu.»
Zelda stepped back and raised her arms, as though to guard her body. She charged magical energy around them. She raised one above her head while lowering the other and twirling around. Shoots of the energy around her arm surrounded her body and her form changed. Her skin became darker, her eyes the color of blood. Her dress changed into a skintight body suit of a navy blue color. Muscles developed in an instant and her torso was covered in a baggy, sleeveless, white shirt. There were torn bandages around her hands. Attached to her back, under the white shirt, was a small lute. A white scarf that wound around the top of her head shaded her lower face.
She looked at him with a fierce gaze of a warrior. He seemed to freeze as he looked at her in awe.
«Wow. Tetra can't do anything like that. I guess you're not her.»
She gave him a brief glance of irritation and repeated the process to change her form in the first place. Her eyes returned to blue, her skin became pale once more. The navy blue bodysuit became a green dress of heavy silk. The white shirt returned to a light armor over her shoulders. Silken green gloves that went up to her armpits replaced the bandages over her hands.
«Of course. That is what I have been trying to tell you this entire time. So where am I?»
«My house. It's on a small island on the Great Sea.»
«The Great Sea?»
«Yeah. It's what the goddesses created when they buried the Golden Lands underwater to destroy a great evil. A fishless ocean. I think you were born to rule a drier Hyrule.»
«Yes. I was. How did you figure that out?»
«It's pretty obvious. You don't understand my modern speech. You only speak, and understand, ancient Hylian. You say you're Princess Zelda, and you're speaking the truth 'cause I can see that in your eyes, but the Zelda I know goes by the name Tetra and the only thing she's the ruler of is a bunch of pirates.»
«That's right. You did refer to this as ancient before. I was so flabbergasted by the idea that you were insisting that I was this Tetra, that I did not realize it.»
«And that's another thing. You're speech is way too formal to be Tetra. She speaks so freely and with such an accent, sometimes it's hard to understand her. Even when the disguise she was given was taken away, she always acted so freely.»
«That is very observant.»
He chuckled. «To be the Hero of Winds, I've gotta be observant, Miss Zelda. Else I'd be sleeping with the fishes right now, many times over.» He walked over to the door and opened it. He looked back at her. «Come on, I'm gonna take you to Windfall Island. It's a little way from here, but I'm supposed to meet Tetra there. She's a lot smarter then I am, so maybe she can figure out what's going on.»
Zelda followed Linkuu and walked down the shore with him. He showed her to a red boat that looked like it had a dragon's head. It looked so real; Zelda thought for a moment that it was capable of speech. The sail was tied down so it wouldn't go anywhere. There was a rope connecting it to a pole buried into the sand. Linkuu helped her onto the boat. She sat down on a compartment box at the back of the boat. He stepped in and grabbed a hold of the sail. He untied it and the sail became full with wind.
He handled the mast easily and rotated it around to get the most of the wind. The boat moved along the water, and the head turned to face the direction he wanted to lead it in. The wind was strong and they traveled quickly. However, it was over three hours that they passed a large tower that Zelda had seen, towering in the distance, even when they had first left the island she had been found on. While they were passing it, Zelda tried to look at the top of the tower, but even arched back as much as she safely could, the clouds still covered the peak.
«Yeah. That's the Tower of the Gods, all right. It's tall, isn't it?» He called back to her. She nodded and gazed at it in awe.
It was nearing nightfall before he told her that they were even nearing their destination. She waited patiently and sat, occasionally shifting positions to remove the aching pain from her legs. The moon was fully raised above the horizon when they reached the island. He steered the boat to the docks of the island, tied down the sail, and jumped off. He tied the boat to the docks to make sure it didn't drift off and held out a hand to help Zelda off the boat. She rose and unsteadily walked to the front of the boat. She took his hand and he deftly pulled her up onto the docks.
He waved her forwards and led her through some dirt paths. Eventually, he brought her to a stone building. It had a wooden door. He opened it and let her walk in. She waited for him to enter, as he closed the door behind himself, and walked to a woman standing behind a counter.
She looked up at him and then over at Zelda.
"Can I help you, Linkuu?" She asked in the modern version of Hylian.
"Yeah. I know you don't normally do this, but could you give her a room to stay the night? I'll just sleep on the bench outside, like normal. But I'd like her to have somewhere else to stay. Please?"
"Fine. My guest room upstairs isn't being used at the moment. It'll be a hundred rupees."
He shrugged and handed over an orange rupee. Zelda stared at the amount and then followed him as he led her upstairs. He brought her to a room and opened the door for her. She walked in and looked around, it was a bedroom.
«Don't worry. I'm sleeping outside, but I thought you could use a room. You look like you've been through something trying recently. You could use the rest, especially after sailing all day. Don't worry about me though, okay? I'm used to it.» He spoke too fast in ancient for her to say no to him. She nodded.
«Linkuu, do you think it would be at all possible for you to teach me the language that everyone else speaks.»
«I dunno. Can you learn a new language?»
«I know the languages of the Zora, Goron, Gerudo, and Hylians. Or what you call ancient. I wish to be able to communicate with others on my own and be able to understand what they are saying to me.»
«Sure, thing.» He replied. His expression showed that the number of languages that she knew impressed him. «I'll start you off tomorrow morning though, before Tetra arrives. It's late.» He yawned widely and waved to her. «G'night. See you tomorrow. Rest well. Oh, lock the door. The drunks aren't the most trustworthy of people.» With that he walked out of the room.
Zelda walked over to the door and locked it as he had told her to do. She then sat down on the simply made bed and looked around. She wished for a nightgown to wear to bed, instead of her dress. She walked over to a nearby window and looked up at the star filled sky.
Linkuu looked a lot like Link, now that she remembered the Hero of Time. He had said he was the Hero of Winds. He had mentioned it in the middle of a stream and hadn't seemed to make a show of his title, so it had almost passed by unnoticed. But he was so different from Link at the same time. He spoke, a lot. During their passage over the sea, he had told her many delightful tales of people over the Great Sea and what it was like now. His stories had focused around the island he had grown up on, Outset, its rituals, his grandmother and sister, Tetra, and her pirate crew. He had proven to be very entertaining. And yet, she didn't think of him as strong or brave as Link.
She laughed lightly to herself. Linkuu was perhaps a reincarnation of Link, born to save Hyrule like the original hero himself. But they weren't the same, and it wasn't fair of her to compare the two men. As she gazed out at the sea, sorrow weighed down on her mind. She wondered if Link was out there, or if he was alive at all.
Zelda turned away from the window and closed it. She then removed her heavy dress, armor, jewelry, gloves, shoes, and surcoat. She draped them over the back of a chair in the room and stood in the middle of the room wearing a lightweight slip. She went to the bed and slipped under the covers. She was asleep in an instant.
This won't be updated until I finish typing up another story. Not updating. there can be a month's difference between it being fully updated on the site and finished typed. Like Lei's Crystal. Anywho. Enjoy yourself. Leave me with any questions, comments, concerns, or advice over this change in events over the next several months. I swear I'll enjoy it.