INSOMNIA
based on The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
"You know what I hate about rain?" said Tatl.
They dashed out from under the tree and were instantly soaked. An endless torrent of water gushed down from the heavens, cascading from rooftop to balcony to ground. Link's feet splashed through the ground, spraying his face with mud, his faerie companion giving him a wide berth as they both made a beeline towards a covered archway at the edge of the park. They skidded to a messy halt as they got there: it wasn't much drier here thanks to the raindrops splashing off the ground next to them, but at least there was nothing coming from above.
Without warning Tatl dropped into a perch on Link's snout, digging in hard with her feet.
"Wingshreds," she said, casually running a hand through her (thoroughly waterlogged) hair. "Anyway. The problem with rain is that it's wet." She started wringing out her hair, sending a thin trail of water down Link's nose. "Cold, too. But wet. I hate being wet. You ever tried flying while your wings were soaked with water? No? Didn't think so. Urgh."
The sudden downpour was the first rain Link had encountered since he'd been cursed. Getting this wet was actually a very pleasant sensation in this body – no doubt related to being made of wood. Every drop of water sent a tingling sensation through his body, making him feel more cheerful and alert. Even the mud felt good against his bare feet. He really had turned into a plant.
Having spent all but a day of his life as a flesh-and-bones human, it had never occurred to him before that other races might see rain as something other than a messy nuisance. Link now found himself wondering what other everyday situations might seem entirely different in his new form.
"Oh, great," said Tatl unhappily, peering over her shoulders, "I think I just put on a few ounces... close your eyes..."
Before even finishing the last word she had turned her back to him, balancing carefully on his nose. With a deep breath and clenched fists, Tatl's wings buzzed with incredible speed like a dragonfly high on sugar, spraying Link in the face with more water than he had thought it possible for a faerie to soak up.
"Much better," she said, flicking a drop of water from her chest. "I'm still cold, though. Want to head inside?"
Link shook his head. For once he was wringing a little enjoyment out of this Deku body.
Tatl's eyebrows arched. "Very funny. I think there's an inn not far from here. It's just a couple of blocks down from the Mayor's office, you remember going there?" She looked out from under the archway and grimaced. The rain was sloshing down on either side of them, and it was clear that even the shortest of dashes was going to result in extreme soaking. "But we're going to drown out there..."
Link shrugged. By 'we' she clearly meant 'I', and Tatl's personal comfort was not his number one priority right now. He stuck a hand out into the rain, marvelling at the touch of the icy cold droplets.
Sensing his disinterest, Tatl's eyes narrowed. "Fine. Be that way. Ignore a poor little girl's feelings."
He didn't deign to respond, and so she sat there on his nose, staring him down.
She didn't blink for five whole minutes, and for a few seconds he thought she might have fallen asleep or died with her eyes open. When she did blink and her eyelids fluttered up she had undergone one of those downright creepy instant mood changes. She swatted him playfully and motioned upwards.
"Hey, nice hat you've got there."
-oOo-
The Eastern Thoroughfare
Clock Town
And so Link found himself wandering through the wet, windy streets of Castle Town with a faerie in his cap. Sitting under there, nice and comfortable (and, she claimed, dry), she offered occasional directions through East Clock Town. She flat-out refused to stick her head out in the cold to check they were going the right way, so those directions were sketchy at best.
That said, this was one part of town where directions were practically unnecessary. There was a very wide road which Link had already been up and down several times the day before, which wound around municipal buildings and upmarket shops and restaurants, sloped up and down and occasionally even broke into staircases, and which had nearly no side streets to speak of. Navigating this area was mostly a matter of following the brick road until one reached one's destination.
(Oh, and it was wet, and he was enjoying it, and she was not. All was well.)
"Okay," said Tatl's muffled voice, "we should have just passed the Mayor's office, right? So- you clumsy oaf! Don't nod so violently!"
If a Deku scrub qualified as a 'clumsy oaf' then Link couldn't imagine how she'd ever gotten along with the four foot high Skull Kid. He smirked, trying to imagine Tatl holding a conversation with a Goron.
"Did you just laugh?" said Tatl suspiciously. "I heard you laugh."
He shook his head, and after an accusing pause she went on.
"Okay, follow the road – oh, did you turn left? I felt a left turn – so now I think there's a tailor and a jeweller and a hairdresser all in a row. And there's a wall covered with Indigo-Go posters, right?"
Link had no idea what an Indigo-Go was, but there was indeed a wall covered with many different ads for them, all of them featuring Zoras: Zoras posing on a mountaintop, Zoras wading in boiling water, a Zora woman sitting in a giant clam, two Zora men slapping each other with dead fish. The fish people had always been a mystery to him, inscrutable even, but these posters made absolutely no sense. If Link had to guess, he might have ventured that the ads were for a comedy troupe.
A few buildings later and the eastern gate swam into view. Link slowed down to tackle a set of descending steps.
"Okay, nearly there," Tatl said, yawning and stretching. "Wow, it's pretty comfy here. You'd like it. Um, the milk bar should be to the left – be careful!"
This last word came as Link swung his head to look to his left. He recognised this building from yesterday, the one which had more layers of graffiti than rings in a tree trunk. A tiny brass on the door read 'Latte: Members Only, ID required', while a painted-on cow's face winked at him. It didn't take a genius to work out what 'milk bar' meant.
"Are we there?" Tatl poked her head outside Link's cap for a split second, withdrew, and smacked him on the head. "Idiot! We're not going in there, you have to be an adult and pay a wagonload of gold just to get through the door! I was going to tell you that there's an inn to your right, if you'd just listen for a second! Sheesh..."
Link walked across to a homely building that reminded him of a cottage with its irregular brickwork and lovingly-thatched roof (which the rain slid from like ice), signposted 'Stockpot Inn'. He tried the doorknob. It was locked.
"If you tell me it's locked I swear I will burn you to bits," said Tatl after a moment's pause.
As if he could have told her anything. He squeaked and waited for her to get the picture.
"Oh, come on," said Tatl. "Why would they lock up in the middle of the day? It's not like it's flooding or anything."
Link and his completely submerged feet begged to differ. The streets were all but empty, with the occasional person hurrying frantically by with a coat thrown over his head or a umbrella gripped in her hand.
"Well," said Tatl slowly, "how about we try somewhere else?"
-oOo-
So began a long trek through Clock Town, trying every single shop and cafe in sight. Inevitably at every building they were either locked out or ushered outside very quickly once somebody noticed Link and Tatl dripping all over the carpet.
The bomb shop to the west of town was open but already packed full of people trying to escape the wet.
At the Mayor's office, the receptionist recognised them from the day before, exchanged a few loud words with Tatl, and had them kicked out by the guards all in the space of half a minute.
A little boy in a yellow headscarf stood in front of a brick wall in the middle of nowhere, eyeing them uncertainly and loudly declaring that he was just minding his own business, he certainly wasn't guarding a secret passage or anything, and would they please shove off before he called the Bombers on them?
When the carpenters still working in the town square jokingly offered to let them take cover under the festival tower (which was still very incomplete and didn't block the rain in the slightest), Tatl groaned and told Link that this was all a huge waste of time and its was all his fault.
Her mood probably wasn't helped by the fact that even the thick lining of his cap was now soaking through. Tatl was now thoroughly soggy, but still refused to leave the hat on the grounds that it was much worse outside, her wings would soak up too much water and she would drop to the ground on the stone. Link would have liked to retort that none of the faeries he'd ever known had been immobilised by rain. He stared up at the festival tower and wondered how the carpenters would possibly have it done by tomorrow night.
A tiny flash of movement caught his eye. A man in white clothes with a big red hat jogged through the flooded square, ripples forming in time to his footsteps. A bright crimson backpack stuffed with envelopes suggested he was a postal worker. He was moving fast, even in the thick water, and as he came close Link could hear him muttering: "No time... no time..."
"Was that the postman I heard?" said Tatl. "He's crazy to be out right now... Ooh! Is he still wearing sandals?"
To Link's amazement, she was right: the postman was running through the water with his feet entirely exposed.
Tatl laughed. "He's gonna be scared of shoes for the rest of his life. And mice. Shoes and mice. Tael and I spent weeks preparing..." She paused, realising that Link would have no idea what she was talking about. "Whatever. Long story. Have we tried the laundry pool yet?"
The laundry pool was only a very short walk away, so they started in that direction. Squashed between a line of buildings and the town walls, they were actually sheltered from the rain above for a short distance, but that didn't matter with the mist spraying down from the town walls and the undertow threatening to drag them back to where they'd started.
When they arrived, Tatl reluctantly made her way out of his hat. "It's too damp," she explained, stretching her wings. She hastened to add, "But I'm not flying in this weather. No way." She dropped back onto his nose and proceeded to pull faces at him.
The running stream that had looked so tranquil the previous night was now turbulent and troubled, water trickling into it faster than it could carry out of town. They were quite alone out here.
Tatl poked and pointed. "Look! Froggies! Aren't they so cute?"
Link's eyes slid past the slimy blue frogs cavorting by the riverbank, and focused on a building on the far side of the stream – barely more than a window and door that protruded from the laundry pool walls. He didn't remember seeing it last night, but they hadn't been paying attention to much aside from the stray faerie. Wondering if his friend was still hell bent on taking shelter, he squeaked and pointed at it.
Tatl took one look and grimaced. "That house is Bomber territory. Full of booby traps. Plus I'll bet it's locked." She sighed, shaking the water out of her wings. "There used to be a little shed here a few years back. Looks like they tore it down. Never mind. Let's go back."
Link turned to leave, but he had barely entered the narrow passage back before running head first into a long blue skirt.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't see you," said the owner of the skirt, taking a few steps back. "Hello, Mr Scrub. How about this rain?" She met Link's gaze.
The woman had dark red hair, sad blue eyes, and perhaps most importantly she carried an elegant little umbrella which was keeping her quite dry. (Seeing this, Tatl sat up straight.) The part of Link's mind that gauged enemies in combat noted the high heels and the pointy end of the umbrella, marking her as a potential threat, even as everything about her posture and her forlorn half-smile told him she was harmless.
She took his lack of response the wrong way. "Oh, I see... I'm in your way. I'll..."
"No!" said Tatl quickly, darting under the shelter of the umbrella. "Stay right there. Don't move." Without further ado she started drying herself off. "Ah..."
Link backed out of the alleyway, letting the woman pass. She muttered a 'thank you' and walked towards the laundry pool, settling on a small wooden bench. Tatl followed the umbrella closely, forcing Link to follow as well.
"Such a rainy day," sighed the woman as Link sat down in the mud at her feet. "Do you scrubs feel sad on rainy days, too?"
He shrugged, but she was staring off into the distance, waiting for him to say something. After a few seconds, she turned to look at him, puzzled.
Tatl came to the rescue. "Little Deku kid there isn't supposed to talk right now... uh... he has a cold. A Deku scrub cold. A very rare kind of Deku cold you've never heard about which means he can't speak." She prodded the mesh above her. "Nice umbrella."
"Oh?" said the lady. "I'm sorry to hear that. You must be upset."
"Oh, yeah," said Tatl, "he's totally miserable."
The red-haired woman nodded and stared far away, saying nothing.
Link took the opportunity to beckon at the faerie. Surely she didn't seriously want to spend the whole day under that one umbrella?
In response, Tatl poked her tongue out at him. She grabbed a fistful of hair and started squeezing it dry like a sponge.
The woman looked at Link again. "Deku scrubs are supposed to like rain. At least one of us has reason to be happy..." She sighed. "I should be happier, shouldn't I?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" said Tatl absent-mindedly.
"I'm...I don't suppose you've seen a man in this area?" the red-haired woman ventured. "He's about this tall..." - she held her hand up in the air - "solidly built... his name-"
"Ooh!" squealed Tatl, "is that him?"
Two heads turned to see where she was pointing – dashing across the bridge from the other side of the stream was a large bearded Goron wearing a necklace of heavy stones. He was clearly unhappy with the rain, hunching hunched over as he was with his hands over his head. Link could tell that if it came to a fight the Goron could flatten him in seconds.
"No," said the umbrella lady, watching the Goron run past, face averted. "Not a Goron... a human. He looks like this..." From the folds of her dress she produced a small wooden mask which vaguely resembled a man's face – a pale, white face with long blue hair. "Does that strike a bell?"
"Nope," said Tatl, poking with childish curiosity at the umbrella handle.
Link shook his head apologetically... and then froze. That can't be right... He turned around but the Goron was gone. Where had it come from? The laundry pool had been empty just a minute ago, which meant that either it had been hiding underwater, or it had just emerged from the building Tatl had called 'Bomber territory'. He frowned. Didn't the Bombers distrust adults? What secret business could a Goron possibly have with them in there?
"I see," said the woman sadly, and Link turned his attention back to her. No point in making up conspiracy theories. "He... disappeared about one month ago. I saw the postman come by here and thought maybe... maybe it was..." Her lower lip was trembling.
Unsure what to do, Link reached out a hand and rested it gently on her knee.
She took a ragged breath. "But perhaps it's for the best. I... he... he probably doesn't want to..." Her eyes squeezed closed. "I'm... I'm actually... afraid to meet him... to hear the reason he wanted to disappear..."
Her face was wet despite the umbrella.
"Oh, please, don't cry," said Tatl, as if noticing the woman for the first time.
"What if it was because of me?" sobbed the red-haired woman, letting go of the umbrella to bury her face in her hands. "What if it was something I did? There are only two days to the carnival and I don't know if I should wait for him..."
"Hey!" said Tatl angrily as the umbrella clattered to the ground. She motioned to Link. "No point hanging around, Deku boy. Take the umbrella, by the way."
Ignoring the faerie, Link lifted the umbrella out of the mud and carefully placed it on the bench beside the sad woman. Her choked sobs continued, and Link stood there for a long while looking at this sad woman crying.
In that moment he felt himself brush against the surface of a bottomless despair. What difference did it make if the moon fell or not? The world would be just as miserable, and for all his so-called heroic deeds he didn't have the power to make people happy. How many people were there in Termina, so devoid of hope that they welcomed the end of the world as the final punctuation mark to their joyless lives? The voice that belonged to the Kokiri child stirred in his head, taunting him: You are the same as them. Alone. Unhappy. Lost. Soulless. In that moment he would have given his life here on this dying world to bring a smile to this unfamiliar woman's face for just a few seconds. In that moment he would have welcomed death.
"Deku kid!" hissed Tatl in his ear. "Get a grip! There's nothing we can do for her, you hear me? Nothing! Now leave the poor woman alone!"
Reluctantly, Link stepped away from the red-haired woman. Insensitive insect or not, his companion had a point.
Slowly, ignoring the rain for different reasons, Link and Tatl made their way out of the laundry pool, back through the muddy narrow alleyway, back to the town square, and kept walking with no real destination in mind, waiting for nightfall.
It was a few minutes before Tatl spoke again. "Pansy," she muttered.
He wasn't sure who she was talking about.
The rain came down even harder than before.
A/N: I'm trying to keep my brother well away from the keyboard right now, so I'll be brief. This chapter is very short. The next chapter will probably be a while. And, uh... mice. Shoes and mice.
Yep, that seems fairly self-explanatory. Have a nice day?
