Author's note: Darmani is harder to write than I thought he'd be.


Compass
North - Snowhead Mountains

The mountains of Snowhead lie this way. Be careful.

The mountains are peaceful, filled with the gentle sound of the river and the occasional bird-song, and in the distance, the sound of cheering.

Is there a race today?

...warm.

It is; it's well into spring now. Link watches a butterfly lazily flutter past before finding a place to sit down near the water. The swamp is nice and green and reminds him of the forest, but he likes the mountains, too. It's peaceful up here. Calm and quiet like he remembers Death Mountain being, but with grass and the river.

And no volcano. Then again, he does remember lava in Snowhead Temple somewhere, so maybe he's not as far from volcanoes as he thinks. Still, Death Mountain is fiery, while Snowhead is... not. And yet somehow, the mountains have a similar feel to them.

He doesn't really understand.

Homesick?

He wouldn't put it that way. It's a weird thing to think about, but... for a while right after the moon was destroyed, right after last year's Carnival, he tried to find a way back to Hyrule but didn't find one. At some point, he stopped looking, and even now he's in no hurry to find a way back. He isn't sure if it's because he's convinced that he can't go home, or if it's more that he doesn't want to go home.

Or maybe it's more that to him, Termina is more of a home than Hyrule was. After all, in Hyrule, he's torn between the Kokiri -- the people he grew up with, people who will never grow up -- and the Hylians -- the people he belongs with, people who see him as a child. Too old for one home, too young for another... he doesn't fit in anywhere, there.

In Termina, at least... while he's still not really an "adult" (then again, didn't Cremia say he's an adult now?), most people treat him like enough of one. He carries a sword, after all; that apparently means he's not a child anymore. They're right about that. He isn't a child and hasn't been for a long, long time.

That should probably bother him more than it does, shouldn't it?

Heavy thoughts...

He sighs. He shouldn't be thinking about this kind of thing. He's supposed to be making Darmani feel better, not sitting here making himself feel worse.

Link shakes his head and pulls on the Goron Mask, making himself (well, himself-as-Darmani, really) more comfortable on the grass.

Some times you have to think the heavy thoughts, Link. No matter how painful they may be, it is for the best. Chip away at the weight little by little, and one day the weight will be gone.

"Really, Darmani?"

Yes. It won't be easy, and it will take time, but one day it will trouble you no more.

He sighs. There's just something about those words. He knows they're true, but there's something else, too, something that makes him remember Death Mountain even more.

What's wrong?

"You sound like Darunia..." he murmurs. Maybe there's just something that all great Goron leaders have.

I don't know that name. Tell me about this Darunia.

And so he does. He talks about meeting the stubborn Darunia and retrieving the Spiritual Stone of Fire. He tells how Darunia went to face the dragon Vovolgia without the Megaton Hammer, and how in the end the Goron leader turned out to be the Sage of Fire.

He leaves out the part where Darunia named his son Link; that's a bit embarrassing.

Embarrassing? He thinks well enough of you to give your name to his son. There is nothing embarrassing about that. That is an honor.

Link reaches up and rubs at his cheek absently. Honor? Maybe. It's still embarrassing. He doesn't really see himself as some great hero. He just does what he has to.

Darmani chuckles. And that, Link, is why you deserve more honor than you receive.

That's not why he's here, though. "And what about you? I didn't come up here so I could bury you with heavy thoughts."

Perhaps I don't mind. After all, I'm much stronger than you are. I don't mind sharing your burden.

"Still... That's not why I came here. I came here so you could have a day to do whatever you want. I know it's not much, but... I want to give you something."

I don't need anything, Link.

"I know you don't need anything, but..." He takes a deep breath and then lets go entirely. I want to give you what I can...

"Very well," Darmani says; Link feels him (them) stand and stretch. "It's been a while since I could just walk around."

Walk around? That's all Darmani wants? Link had thought the Goron would want to go racing.

Darmani laughs. "There is a time for excitement, and there is a time to just enjoy the scenery. Have you ever really looked around? There is much to be seen if you only take the time to seek it out."

He doesn't really understand. Darmani can do anything he wants today, and all he wants to do is just walk around? And that's what he does, too, walking leisurely around the mountains, stopping to look at some flowers here and an interesting rock there, and seemingly just enjoying the nice weather. Link decides to pull back further and give Darmani as much privacy as he can.

It's nearly sunset when he shifts his mind forward again; Darmani is sitting near the river again, looking up at the sky. The impression Link gets from him is that of peaceful contentment.

Are you sure you don't want to go back to the village?

"I no longer belong there, Link. Do not forget that when you met me, I was already dead." Darmani says that simply, calmly (eerily). "I've had the time to come to terms with that."

Link sighs. That's true, of course. He met Darmani when he eased the warrior's spirit... after Darmani had been killed by Goht. Then you should be at rest, shouldn't you? This isn't rest. Link isn't quite sure what this is, but it isn't rest. I should give your mask back to --

"No."

What?

"If you give the mask back to my people, what will I do? They will treasure it and give it a place of honor, and they will never touch it again. In time, Link, they will forget about me. That is how things are."

Time. Everything always comes down to time, doesn't it? (Looping, folding, flowing, but never, ever stopping.) ...but is staying with me any better?

Darmani chuckles. "The very fact that you feel the need to ask that is all the proof I need that it is."

What do you mean?

"You care enough to ask my opinion. Therefore, to you, I'm not dead yet."

But I --

"You don't have to understand, Link. I don't understand what has happened either, but perhaps we aren't meant to understand such things. What matters is that we are here, and that through one means or another, we are alive."

Yeah... we are. There isn't anything Link can say after that. He knows Darmani has a point, and really, does it matter? As long as you don't feel trapped because of what I did.

"You saved Snowhead. You saved my people. You saved all of Termina. I am honored that I have been able to fight with you this far. I would be even more honored to travel further with you and aid you as I can." Darmani looks up at the darkening sky and the first bright stars appearing in it.

The stars are familiar, oddly so. It's been a year since Link stopped the moon, and he doesn't remember how long he spent in that three day loop (he remembers all of them, so does that mean he aged through them?). These stars are almost as familiar to him as the stars back in Hyrule... though he doesn't know the names of any of the constellations here.

Darmani chuckles. "I can tell you some of them, if you wish."

Only if you want to. I don't want to bother you...

"It doesn't bother me at all. I've missed having someone to tell the stories to." He points up at a circle of stars low in the sky. (It's a lot easier to point something out to someone looking through the same eyes.) "See that circle? That is the Great Goron, an ancient hero. He spends every night rolling across the sky, watching over us."

The Great Goron?

"Yes. It's been so long that none remember his name. Once, long, long ago even by the way we Gorons measure time, a giant came to Snowhead and wanted to claim the lands for himself. The villagers tried as best they could to convince the giant to leave or to at least leave the village alone, but the giant refused. He gave the villagers until dusk of a certain day to be out, or he would drive them out himself.

"That day came, but not everyone left. The Great Goron climbed onto the highest slope along the path to the village and curled up, waiting. When the giant passed by, he rolled down the slope as fast as he could, flying down the slope and slamming into the giant's head, killing him. But in his death throes, the giant knocked the Great Goron high into the sky, so high that he disappeared into its depths. The giant was gone and the village safe, but no one ever saw the Great Goron again.

"Yet as the villagers all gathered to celebrate the giant's defeat, some of them noticed a circle of stars where there had been none before. The giant knocked him so high, it seemed, that he joined the stars themselves. He is still there, still watching."

Link thinks about that. A hero rising to the stars, a story passed down for generations... Do you think they'll tell stories about you, too? After all, you're the one who saved Snowhead.

Darmani shakes his head. "No, I am not. There is no one person who saved Snowhead, Link. You and Oakin and myself; we are the ones who saved Snowhead. Though perhaps it's better this way... because no matter what they think the details may be, the truth is that they are safe now, and everyone knows that."

I guess you're right... It doesn't matter if anyone knows what happened, or even if anyone realizes that the world has been saved at all, so long as the world is safe.

And the world is safe, and it has been for almost a year now.

Destiny hasn't decided to call on him a third time... at least not yet. He wonders if it will. After all, Destiny needed him as an adult before; it's entirely possible that somewhere out there is another world that needs saving.

Um, Darmani...? What are you going to do now?

"I should be the one asking you that, Link."

Well... I'm going to go out to the Bay next. He wants to fidget, but a mind can't. Link is pretty sure Darmani can sense it just the same.

Darmani laughs. "I mean after that. After the Carnival, what will you do? Are you going to stay here, or are you going to go home?"

Neither.

"Oh?" The Goron shifts, laying down on the soft, soft grass and curling into a ball. "Then where will you go?"

Wherever the road takes me. That's worked for me so far.

"So it has. You won't mind company, will you? I've never been beyond Termina's borders before."

Link thinks about that. He wants to stay in Termina -- he feels almost like he belongs here, moreso than in Hyrule, anyway -- but he doesn't want to stay put. He's been wandering for too long to stop now.

Do you want to go?

"Only if you wish to, Link. I don't want to force anything on you; you've had more than enough of that already."

But what about you now? I mean, is there anything else you want to do?

Darmani chuckles again; Link gets a strong sense of comfort and peace and he thinks the Goron is tired. "I want to sleep here."

He understands. Here, in the mountains, near the Goron village. Okay. Then, um... goodnight. And he pulls back again.

He wakes up to the sound of the river and the feel of a mountain breeze. It's a beautiful morning. Link sits up and stretches, nudging something on the ground next to him. It's Darmani's mask, but he doesn't remember taking it off. Maybe Darmani did. Link isn't quite sure how that could be possible, but... well, he's seen too many strange things to really be worried about that. (After all, isn't he sharing his body with them all now?)

For a while, he just sits there, looking around at the mountains. He can't help but wonder how different things would be if he had never come to Termina. He hopes Navi is okay, wherever she is, though she probably is. After all, she always seemed to understand things better than he did... She's still alive out there; he knows it.

Maybe this was all supposed to work out like this.

Link finally climbs to his feet and gently (respectfully) puts the Goron Mask back in his pack. It's pretty here, but he really should be going. He'll just have to come back sometime, hopefully on another pretty day. For now, though, he (they) shrugs his pack into place and heads for the path back down the mountain.

Darmani is right; he feels like a little bit of the weight is gone now.