Chapter Two: Sword Re-Training

Water.

He could hear waves. That must mean that he was alive. He opened his eyes, and sunlight immediately blinded him; he endured the glare and sat up. He glanced around. There was no sign of Tetra; nor was the pirate crew or Ghost Ship around. Apparently, he was on some sort of a sandy shore, lined with palm trees.

Was he on an island? That seemed to be the case, but which island? In his travels of the Great Sea, he had come to identify every single charted island on the map. Yet, he could not recognize this one. Then, where…?

"Oh, phew! You're awake!" An odd twinkling sound, like a chime, suddenly filled Link's pointy ears. He looked up – it was a white fairy, and, judging by its voice, was female.

"You weren't moving, so I thought you were done for!" the perky fairy continued, "But it looks like you're gonna be fine." She fluttered excitedly. "I'm Ciela! As you can tell, I'm a fairy. See, I found you here when I was just wandering around."

Link smiled, "I'm Link. Thank you, Ciela!"

"Don't worry about it! But, say, what happened to you?"

The smile faded, and Link immediately jerked up from his sitting position, remembering. He stammered, "It… a Ghost Ship… took my friend, Tetra. Our shipmates-"

"What?! Your friend was taken by a Ghost Ship?!" Ciela cried, "So you were trying to go after her, and you got separated from your own ship, huh?"

Link nodded, "That's right."

Had she been granted a mouth, Ciela would have frowned. "Is it the Ghost Ship people have been talking about? They say that those it takes are never seen again!"

"Please, tell me more!" Link panicked, "What about Tetra?! I… I'll never see her again…?"

"Well, I bet Grandpa will know all about it. I lost my memory… a long time ago. When I woke up on this beach, Grandpa rescued me! He's very sweet, so there's absolutely no need to worry!" She turned towards a house nearby. "Our house is just up there. Come on!"

Ciela fluttered over to the hut, as Link followed closely behind. He pondered over Ciela's words – she said that she'd lost her memory… How terrible, being unable to recall all past memories and nostalgia. And yet, despite such a fate, she was a rather cheery fairy. For that, he had to admire her.

"Grandpa!" Link had entered the house, where an elderly man stood beneath Ciela. He wore a celery-colored shirt and cyan jacket – he also held an odd red staff, which was larger than him and shaped a bit like a conch shell. The man smiled from behind his beard.

"Ah, hello, traveler." He said warmly. "So your name is Link? I am Oshus, and I live on this island. Ciela told me all about what happened to you… I also hear that your friend was taken by the Ghost Ship."

At this, Link's head dropped gloomily, remembering Ciela's words. "…Yes."

Oshus nodded sagely. "I understand that you want to find the Ghost Ship. However, you mustn't."

The boy's head snapped back up. "What?"

"But, Grandpa! What are you saying?! Link's friend was carried away!" Ciela objected.

"Pure evil fills the sails of the Ghost Ship." The elderly man told her, "It roams the seas in search of victims to capture… And no one has ever escaped from it. You'd be better off far away from it." He shook his head, "No. To seek out that ship means to seek out your own doom."

"That's why we have to do something, Grandpa!" Ciela cried.

"Oh, mercy…" Oshus sighed, turning to Link. He studied him thoughtfully. "You aren't going to give up, are you?"

Link nodded, "No," he said simply.

"Young people…" Oshus sighed once more. "There is a port to the east from here. There, you should find a sailor by the name of Linebeck. I'm sure he'll tell you more of the Ghost Ship."

He handed Link a map displaying an island; more specifically, the island he was on. On it were details of the terrain, houses, bridges, a temple…

"If you'll look there, you'll see the port along the southeastern section of this island – Mercay Island." Oshus pointed to the corresponding location on the map.

"Linebeck? You mean that guy who came to visit us earlier, Grandpa? He asked about the Ghost Ship! I remember him!" Ciela fluttered over to Link. "I'll go with Link and show him who Linebeck is. That's OK, right?"

"…Yes, I suppose that's all right. I'm sure you can help Link." Oshus submitted.

Ciela jubilantly circled Link's head, "Thank you, Grandpa! Let's go, Link!" She left the house, leaving Link and Oshus alone.

"She's always been antsy, that one…" Oshus commented. "Now, Link… Lately, there have been many monster sightings. I succumbed to you, telling you about Linebeck… But do be careful out there. And if you ever need help, seek me out."

Link nodded, "Don't worry, sir. Ciela and I will be fine!" With that said, he ran off to join the fairy.

"…Young people…" Oshus repeated.

"All right, let's go!" Ciela said. "No time to waste, after all!" Link nodded, and started towards a path leading north.

"Ah! No! Not that way!" Ciela immediately flew in his path, halting him. "Grandpa forbids me to go up that path, because of all the monsters over there!" She gestured towards a nearby stone bridge, "That way leads to the other section of Mercay, and it's the fastest, too! Come on-"

As soon as she had said those last words, a vibrant shaking occurred, nearly taking Link off his feet. "Uwah!"

When it stopped, as suddenly as it had come, Ciela yelped, "What was that? Another earthquake?!"

"'Another' earthquake?" Link asked. "There have been a lot of monsters and earthquakes recently?"

"Yup – bad signs, for sure. And I bet there are even worse things to come!"

Link frowned. Was Mercay truly a part of the familiar Great Sea? He hadn't experienced any earthquakes for a long while, not since his past adventures approximately three months ago. However, he shrugged it off, and followed Ciela to the bridge, along a powerful waterfall.

It was now a broken-in-half bridge.

A woman standing before it was in frustration. "Oh, heavens! That quake just broke the bridge again! Every time there's a big quake, the bridge breaks!" She turned to Link. "If you want to get to town on the other side, there's another way, fortunately. Unfortunately, it leads through a scary cave, packed with monsters. You might as well wait for the bridge to be fixed."

Link moaned, wondering why he had abandoned his first blade. It was likely somewhere deep under the Great Sea… "Now what?"

Ciela giggled, beckoning him away from the woman. "Well, Grandpa would definitely want us to stay out of trouble, and tell us to wait for the bridge to get repaired… But your friend is in danger, so we can't waste time!" she whispered.
"So what do we do?" Link asked, intrigued.

"Grandpa's storage," she fluttered over to a hole in the stone wall (hidden by some barrels) by Oshus' house, "is over here. He should have a sword in there. But you'll need to know a secret number in order to get inside – I think it's the number of palm trees on the beach, where I found you. Sneaky!"

Thus, the two ran off to the beach. There were exactly seven palm trees along the shore, not counting a couple of normal trees in the corner.

"Well, that's that!" Ciela chimed. "Let's go raid Grandpa's storage room!"

Oshus' storage was not very extravagant, as Link had slightly been hoping for. It was a simple cave, with an odd door at the other end, accompanied with a wooden sign. The door, a thick slab of stone, with an aged, teal-colored glyph-like symbol on it, would not budge.

"Here, Link!" The ever-perky fairy was twinkling above the sign. There was writing on it:

"'Keep your hands off my things. Please ask first. –Oshus–' Are you sure this is a good idea?" Link read aloud, before turning to Ciela.

"Of course it is! This is to find your friend, after all!" she insisted. "Write the number on the sign; come on."

He raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Without ink?"

"Just do it."

Hesitantly, Link took a plain quill from his pocket and placed it on the sign. He glanced at Ciela, and back at the sign. Finally, he drew a line to the right, followed by another drawn southwest: the number seven. As he did so, black ink instantly formed, trailing the quill's path.

At once, miraculously, the stone door began to sink into the ground. The path was opened. Beyond was a small room – separated by a tiny bridge over a moat of water – with a treasure chest. He ran over to the chest and pulled up the head – he drew out a plain, but well-cared for, sword. The handle had a small blue jewel, and the blade was somewhat small, but would deliver clean slices – it reminded him of the sword he had once held, long ago…

"You got a sword!" Ciela exclaimed, "Ooooh! We shouldn't tell Grandpa we took it; he'd be worried sick. But at least we can protect ourselves from those monsters!"

Link smiled, "You're so shameless, Ciela."

Of course, there was no chance of not being spotted by Oshus, who was waiting for them at the entrance of the cave. The man frowned.

"Exactly what do you plan to do with my sword?!"

"Grandpa, I'm sorry, but we just had to! We can't abandon Link's kidnapped friend! We can't wait for the bridge!" Ciela protested, but Oshus held up a hand to silence her.

"Yes, I understand. But I cannot let you go without showing you how to handle that sword."

Link shook his head, "Ah, no, that's all right. I know how to use a sword very well – three months ago, I had to let it go, but-"

"Then you may be rusty," Oshus interrupted him. "Come, meet me in the house."

"Watch closely, Ciela. Link! Even a good sword can be bad… if mishandled, that is. Therefore, I must revive to you the basics of swordplay! You will use these logs as stationary targets to practice with.

"We will begin with the targeted attack. Keep a sturdy eye on your foe, and jump at it, swinging your sword over your head. Yes, that's it!

"…Now for the side slash. If it is difficult to keep a target onto enemies, use the side slash instead. Just swing your sword in a horizontal direction, or thrust the sword directly at the target. Perfect! Keep at it-

"Do I look like a target to you?!

"…You seem to fully understand the side slash. Finally, the spin attack. Spin quickly while drawing forth your blade. Yes! Form big circles to unleash the spin attack!

"…Superb. I can teach you no more. Now you must swim out on your own as you venture out among the monsters. Remember: come to me if you seek help."

The path was indeed littered with monsters.

Fortunately, there were, so far, only transparent moving blobs of a red jelly-like substance. These creatures – Red ChuChus – were virtually harmless, and could only jump around, trying to slam into a wanderer. Otherwise, their bulging eyes could make a small child cry in fright.

Needless to say, Link had had tougher enemies in his past experiences.

Along the path, he and Ciela encountered an odd grey stone, crafted in a strange fashion.

"That's a Gossip Stone," Ciela said. "Try hitting it with your sword. It may tell you something good." And so he did. He struck the stone, which bounced like a jelly – or perhaps a ChuChu.

The Gossip Stone made a "Boing-oing!" sound, and a bodiless voice called from within it called, "Roll into that big tree there and see what shakes loose! Roll too much, however, and you'll get dizzy!"

Link stared at the stone in disbelief. "T-That thing talked?!"

"It's common knowledge, really." Ciela told him. "Haven't you ever seen a Gossip Stone before?"

Link shook his head in amazement, and somersaulted straight into the large tree beside them, causing a red rupee to fall from it.

"See? Gossip Stones never lie!" Ciela beamed.

Rupees were Hyrulian currency; with a small green rupee being worth one rupee, a blue worth five, and a red worth twenty. There were also big green and red rupees, worth, respectively, a hundred and two hundred rupees.

The pair continued up through the path, entering a cave leading to Mountain Passage. There, they found an expansive room. Along the north end were four horizontally-lined levers, each to be pulled back, along with a locked door in the center and a stone tablet. On the west and east ends were two more rooms, each filled with bat-like monsters called Keese and a single stone tablet.

Ciela fluttered over to the centermost stone tablet, reading the words embedded into it. "'Pull the four levers in the correct order. Or else.' Well, that's just great," she said sarcastically. "Now what?"

Fortunately, Link easily solved the issue by reading the other two tablets; each held clues explaining which levers to pull first. Returning to the center room, he pulled the corresponding levers in the correct order. He was rewarded with a small metal key, which somehow fell into the middle of the room.

"Weird." Ciela said as they moved towards the locked door. Link placed the key into the lock and turned it. The door opened, but the key somehow snapped, making it unusable.

"…This always happens." Link sighed, holding up a fragment of the key wistfully, before tossing it aside.