The Legend of Zelda: The Four Sacred Winds
Book Two-The Hero of Life, Chapter I: To Leave Her Past Behind
"It is done, my Queen," said the Violet, and the Court of the Fey prepared to depart, but the Fairy Queen resumed her full power form. Mila's Fairy sense had been temporarily short-circuited by her recent stress, so she was not overwhelmed. "Stop," said the Queen, holding out a hand in the standard gesture to that effect, magical power emanating from it that rippled the very air around her. "While the Court presented their decision, the great Goddess Farore held me in conference...Her disappointment in you all runs deeper than the Great Sea itself. You have neglected her teachings on the true nature of Courage to an unconscionable degree-your arguments were all flawed because your method of evaluation, examining Mila's life so far and doing nothing else, was woefully insufficient."
Mila had never seen such powerful forces of magic so cowed-and neither had anyone else in all Hyrule's history. "Mila..." continued the Fairy Queen, "I regret I must say that the Court has raised Farore's ire. While it is undeniably so that none of the Great Goddesses are ever required to prove anything to lesser magical beings, the Court of the Fey has...irritated Farore, and so she has decided to do so anyway. To lay bare the truth of the Court's botched judgment, she will add an additional layer to her Trials. As memories are not the true source of courage, she will be removing yours when you arrive at the location of the trials. However, in the interest of balance, the Goddess Farore will offer an additional reward should you succeed in claiming the Hero title." She held out the gemstone that was the Great Fairy's Tear. "This is an extremely potent magical artifact, with value beyond price. If you accept the additional stakes, putting up your memories alongside your freedom, Farore will see fit to entrust it to you. Will you accept this additional bargain, Mila?"
By this point, Mila had at last regained her composure. "I think I need to know a little bit more about it first," she said, "for starters, I'd like more details on the extent of my stake-to just what extent my memories will be taken. Will I be losing skills? I mean, technically if I remember absolutely nothing I would be as an infant-needing to relearn how to walk, much less wield a sword."
"Only memories relating to your identity and experience will be put up," said the Queen, "your body will retain all its skills, including swordplay, and even your limited Fairy magic. In addition, you will retain all academic knowledge independent of your heritage-science and mathematics, for example, will be retained, while literature and lore will not. Social and practical knowledge, such as etiquette and the ability to discern danger will be retained or made part of the stakes on the same basis-in essence, if a memory does not give you a significant clue as to who you are or where you came from, you will keep it. Is this a sufficient answer?"
"Yes ma'm," said Mila, but I have two more questions. First, I'd like to know more about the extra reward the Goddess is putting up, and then...you seemed to imply that I could still back out, is this true?"
The Fairy Queen gave a slight bow. "The Great Fairy's Tear is a rare and useful tool for users of Fairy magic. It is a peerless medium for amplification of that magic-spells are easier to cast and have increased effects when the Tear is used as a magical focus. It has one additional power, which I may reveal to you only once you complete Farore's Trials since it is one of the most closely guarded Fairy secrets-incidentally, all the answers I am giving you now, you will forget along with your other memories. Also, you will forget why you agreed to the quest-Farore will ensure that circumstances conspire to get you to accept the quest anyway, even with your memories gone. I apologize for forgetting this detail.
As for your second question, it is not quite true as you phrased it. You have to accept the quest, from the moment the Court decided you could. However, Farore in her mercy is allowing you to not put up your memories and undertake her Trials with no added conditions, if you so choose. Are you ready to decide now? Are you satisfied with my answers?"
"I am satisfied with the answers, ma'm," said Mila, bowing, "but...I could use some time to think about it."
"Done," said the Fairy Queen, "My Court, Farore has ordained that all of you must spend the next century in repentance and dilligent study of her teachings. You are adjourned."
The Court of the Fey went from cowed, to crestfallen, to dutiful acceptance, to returning from whence they came. The sun was nearly fully set by the time Mila at last made her decision. "Ma'm...I've been thinking a lot about what you said-that the Goddess Farore says that memories are not the source of courage. Then, there was some of the Court of the Fey that said that stuff about courage being meaningless unless tested. If these are both true, then...all that will happen if I give up my memories for this quest is that the courage in me that's been tested so far will just lose a bit of meaning for a while, then get back even more meaning. That doesn't sound so horrible...so I accept."
The Fairy Queen extended Mila her arm. "Very well. Take my hand, Mila, and I will take you to the entrance to your quest." Mila took the hand of the Fairy Queen, and she once again vanished into multicolored sparks-only this time, Mila did as well. She was completely unaware of the rest of the journey. The Fairy Queen took her deep below the Mother Isle fountain...deeper and deeper and deeper, deeper even than Old Hyrule at the depths of the Great Sea, into a vast underground river. Further and further upstream they went, until they emerged from the water into an underground cavern. To Mila, it seemed she had simply vanished from Mother Isle and reappeared here. "This is the First Wellspring," said the Queen, indicating a pool of water in the center of the cave. Mila noticed the cave was lit, but there were no torches-the water itself seemed to be illuminating the area. In the center of the pool, water bubbled up before splashing back down again at various intensities-one moment it was barely roiling, the next it was almost a geyser. "Save for where you will be going next, this is the most sacred ground of the Fairy people. All magic in the mortal realm begins right here. The water flows straight up, from miles deep, and with such a formidable current that not even I would be able to reach the bottom with my most powerful magic. None but the Great Goddesses know what lies beyond."
The Queen passed Mila an empty bottle. "Use this to drink of these sacred waters, and you will be transported to the Feyrealm-the true setting of your quest. Mila, though not without misgivings, dipped the bottle into the spring. Suddenly, Mila was overcome by an urge to do an "Item Get" pose similar to what she'd seen Aryll do when they'd met on Windfall Island. She also heard a voice, "You put Sacred Spring Water in your bottle! It glows eerily...you really have to drink this?" Mila's eyes darted from side to side, trying to find any place anyone could be to have said that. "So it's started already," said the Queen, "don't worry about it much-it's a sort of side effect that happens to every Hylian who goes on a journey to become a Hero. Completely harmless."
"Okay, I suppose..." said Mila, then, raising the bottle of Sacred Spring Water to her lips, "bottoms up. Wish me luck." The water felt very warm as it touched her lips, but it was also incredibly delicious-she downed the bottle's worth of it in one gulp. For two seconds, nothing happened. "So, how does this work, is it like a telep-AAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Mila's eyes widened and she fell to her knees and clutched her skull, experiencing the worst migrane she had had in her entire life-and she'd once been sick for two weeks with the Rito Flu. Then suddenly the pain was gone and Mila found herself on an extremely crude raft with neither sail nor oars on what looked like a part of the Great Sea not far offshore from a large, inhabited island. The skies were gray with clouds, and there was a light rain and a distant rumble of thunder. She hoped the weather did not worsen-if it did, she would be metaphorically up a creek and literally without a paddle.
Suddenly, a voiced filled Mila's mind. She hadn't thought it was possible that a voice could display more magical power than the Fairy Queen's, but this one did. "Mila of Windfall...you who seek to become the Hero of Life...we are the Goddess Farore. We thank you, for you are the first ever to make this attempt. And now...you must swim." Out of nowhere, a lighting bolt struck the raft with uncharacteristic lack of ceremony-not to mention the total absence of thunder. It reduced the raft to splinters and sent Mila flying several yards into the Great Sea. Fortunately, it had launched her in the direction of the island, and the distance between Mila and the shore was now feasible to swim. She began, and somehow her mind could not even focus on anything but this task. Gotta get to shore...gotta get to shore...she thought, as her memory slipped away with every stroke. Where am I...? Can't worry about that now...gotta keep going... More and more, the lake of memories of her past and purpose drained from her.
At last, she swam onto solid sand. She was incredibly tired, but managed to crawl for about a minute to get beyond the tide line. Won't die now, I guess...there's people here. I wonder who they are...and...for that matter...who am I? With that, she tilted her head so she wouldn't get sand in her mouth, and slept off her exhaustion.
