Three
The Mask
The boy slowly opened his eyes, to an awareness that something had changed. He had thought, when he ran out of strength and collapsed to the forest floor, that he was dying. Perhaps this was now the afterlife, for he found himself warm, and lying on something soft. His stomach was still achingly empty, but there was a scent of food in the air. Surely this must be some kind of heaven?
Yet as he looked around, he found himself doubting that conclusion. For one thing, in what kind of heaven would he wake within a cage? Its door was open, but it was still quite definitely a cage. And what heaven was so strewn with clutter and piled with books?
Also, the purple-haired man standing at the door to the cage did not look like any sort of angel. The boy sat up, feeling his body still full of aches and bruises, and concluded that this was not heaven after all.
"Good morning," said the man. "I'm Vaati. Sorry about the kennel, but I didn't have anywhere else to put you."
The boy looked at him mutely and shrugged, his eyes still empty of emotion.
"Who are you?"
The boy shrugged again.
Vaati frowned at him. "Can you speak?"
The boy shook his head.
"Ah. Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Your name doesn't really matter, though. What matters is that I need you to assist me. If you will put on this mask for just a moment, I have breakfast prepared. I'm sure you'd like to have some food."
The boy's stomach growled in response to the thought, loudly.
Vaati chuckled. He crouched and held out the mask. It was a startlingly realistic representation of a Zora's face. The boy took it listlessly.
"Go on, put it on."
The boy looked up at Vaati, his face blank, uncomprehending.
Vaati frowned at him. "I suppose a dog might have been better after all," he muttered under his breath. "I guess you want to know what it's for?" he said, a bit louder.
The boy nodded.
"Well, it's a bit of magic. Put it on, you should change into a Zora. Take it off, and return to yourself. It's something I've been working on. I need someone to test it, though. There are various reasons why I can't try it on myself. That's why I need you to try it. I am not prone to charity, but if you make yourself useful to me, I'll at least see that you get fed, and perhaps I can help you in other ways as well."
The boy looked down at the mask. He was not so stupid that he hadn't noticed the word "test" in there. This was unknown magic, which might do anything at all. And yet Vaati had said that he would be useful if he tried it on. His growling stomach was also an argument in favor of doing so, but more than that, he wanted to feel useful. A flicker of emotion showed in his formerly blank eyes, and something that was almost a smile crossed his face.
He lifted the mask and donned it.
For an instant, the world seemed to spin and twist around him. He cried out in shock as his body twisted too, stretching and reforming itself. A moment later he lowered his hands, blinking in confusion with a Zora's eyes, coal-black and without visible iris or pupil. Yet he was not entirely a Zora. His hands were not webbed, and though his skin was blue, it lacked the mottled patterning that all Zoras had. The tail on his head was missing the fin that should have tipped it, and the fins at his wrists were smaller, and shaped oddly. His nose was a bit more pointed, but his face was far too Hylian, other than the dark Zora eyes. He was a peculiar mix of Hylian and Zora. His clothing had changed too, from a tattered green tunic to an equally tattered green kilt, though the collar on his neck remained unchanged.
Vaati cursed softly, or said something that sounded like a curse in a language the boy didn't know. The boy simply looked at him, his eyes if anything even more blank than they had been before.
"So close. Even the clothing spell worked! And yet so far away. You'd only pass as a true Zora among Hylians, the Zoras would know you for a fraud immediately." He heaved a sigh. "Well, you had better take it off, since it obviously didn't work as it should. You should be able to feel the edge of the mask, even if it's not visible."
The half-zora boy nodded and ran his fingers along his jawline. He hesitated, did so again, then shook his head. He could find no edge, no feeling of a mask to take off. He ran his fingers over his face, seeking for some seam elsewhere, but felt nothing but cool, scaled flesh.
Vaati cursed again, getting to his feet and pacing back and forth. "No! I was sure, sure that the removal would work! Now all this effort has been wasted and I'll have to start over again."
The boy let his hand fall. His head bent, his body sagging into a posture of defeat. For a brief moment he had at least thought to be useful to Vaati, if he could accomplish nothing else. Now that too had failed.
Vaati's pacing stopped in front of the kennel where the boy still sat. "And what am I to do with you? If the mask can't be removed, I can't use you to test any future efforts. I suppose I should just turn you out into the forest; you're of no use to me."
The boy could not sag any further, but what little life was left in his eyes vanished completely. He was useless. He had failed at even this small task, just as he had failed at his greater quest. Hyrule was doomed because of him. Going out into the forest to die was the only thing he had left to do. At least perhaps then his body might be of some use to the forest scavengers.
Vaati sighed. "But of course I can't do that. Come, I've cooked breakfast, we might as well eat it."
Author's note: Thank you all for reading this far! And thank you for the scattering of favorites and reviews. That always helps me keep enthused about a project. Do feel free to leave me more of them, and to ask questions and so on. I'm always happy to answer.
P.S. I don't know why I like writing mute Link so much. It makes the story kind of a pain to tell, having a major character unable to talk. But it's a fun challenge, and I think in this story in particular it suits the version of Link found here.
More will be posted next week, so be sure to follow the story to see what happens next.
