06 : Paths
Something had changed. In the long shadows cast by dawn, tossed between the terror of the Otherworld, the agony of her broken wrist, and what scant sleep she managed between the two, Naizhen felt a tension build in her chest and stretch until it snapped. Her eyes burned with exhaustion, but she couldn't shut them after that.
She'd curled up in a patch of dawn's light, cradling her throbbing wrist and measuring the change. It was the Otherworld. Habit kept her out of the shadows, but the darkness didn't seem so alive anymore. The memories weren't gone, but there was a space separating them from the quiet misery of the world she inhabited now.
A cucco cried and Hyrule Castle Town began to wake beneath her, but Naizhen kept her back pressed to the short wall she'd curled up against during the night. The roof underneath her sloped downward to the east, a patchwork of repairs, and just above her there was the overhanging roof of the building she leaned against. It was the only safe place she'd found to sleep in recent months. Other beggars didn't bother with it because of the slope of the roof; even if you didn't accidentally roll off in the night, you were likely to roll out from under the limited cover provided by the neighboring roof's overhang.
Most importantly, it was east-facing, which meant that dawn lit her perch before almost any other place in town.
On an ordinary day, Naizhen wouldn't linger. If she wanted to eat, she couldn't waste any daylight. But the sensation that something was thoroughly different today from the last seven years of her life kept her rooted in place. She listened as the market came to life beyond the building at her back and gently probed at the veil between her thoughts and the Otherworld. The simple fact that she could think about it without getting caught up in a waking nightmare—the sudden rending feeling of half a dozen barbed whip tails finding her back at once, the escalating agony of hot iron branding her skin until a deadened numbness took its place—proved that something had changed.
A flickering glow separated from the bright light of dawn. Naizhen squinted, trying to make it out through the rays of sunlight that pinned her to the roof. A small, red orb of light fluttered closer to her, tiny fairy wings beating quickly as it arced down and then hovered before her face. Naizhen huddled deeper into her hood, unnerved by the feeling that it was studying her as much as she was studying it.
"Oh child," the fairy said in a voice that sounded almost human. There was a deep sadness to it, and a pity that made Naizhen flinch. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" Naizhen's voice cracked when she spoke. She was hoarse, the word grating through her throat. "What are you?"
"I am Din's anchor in this world," the fairy answered. It alighted on her knee. This close, she could make out the feminine shape of the creature, a woman no taller than Naizhen's palm who glowed with red light so piercing she was hard to look at directly. "You are my Guardian."
"No." She could scarcely take care of herself. She would sooner swat the little fairy off her knee than claim guardianship of anyone or anything. "Leave me be."
As if she knew Naizhen's thoughts, the fairy took to the air again, hovering before her. "I'm afraid you can't avoid this, Naizhen. Even if that were in your nature, you wouldn't be able to escape this. The other Guardians will find you even if you don't come to them first."
"How do you know my name?" Her voice was a husky whisper that tore at her raw throat. She left the more important question silent: How do you know my nature?
"I am a Goddess," the fairy said, utterly matter-of-fact. "Part of one, at least. And I know you better than anyone. You are mine."
She didn't believe it for a second. A breath puffed from deep in her chest, something close to a laugh, but it was a dark amusement. Naizhen put her good hand on the wall behind her, pushing herself up. She had to duck out from under the overhang, and the movement jostled her broken wrist in a way that forced her to bite off a gasp.
She found she didn't have to look to know the fairy was following her as she edged her way down the slope of the roof. She could sense the creature behind her, like eyes on her back but magnified. With her broken arm cradled to her chest, she jumped down and over to the next building's balcony, her cloak flaring out around her. The landing made her want to scream, but she grit her teeth and straightened, pulling her fallen hood back into place.
"You will want to head toward the palace," the fairy said.
This time Naizhen did laugh, a staccato burst of breaths with just a hint of voice to them. She gave no other response, just headed toward the market at an ambling pace. Hunger gnawed away in her gut, a familiar enemy. If she was lucky, a baker or a fruit vendor might throw away something she could eat. Fruit too spoiled to sell, a pastry that fell to the ground and was too damaged to pass off on an unsuspecting customer.
She prowled along the few carts set up in the central square. If there was nothing for her to scavenge here, she would have to take to the alleys behind shops and homes, searching their refuse for anything she could eat. Even here, she was not the only beggar haunting the market for discards. She averted her eyes from the others. She'd learned a long time ago not to do anything to cross the other beggars. Last night had been a reminder. She hugged her throbbing arm to her chest and wondered whether infection would set into the break and kill her.
"Oi, fairy child!" a cheerful voice called. It took Naizhen a moment to realize it was directed at her. The fairy made a circle around her head, arcing through her peripheral vision. "Come see an old woman, bless you."
It was, indeed, an old woman, her white-and-gray hair pulled tight behind her head. She wore a shapeless floral dress, lilac and white. Two small dogs sat at her feet, one with its tongue lolling out. The woman had paused before the baker's cart, and she waved Naizhen closer.
Instincts told her to bolt. Catching attention never served her well in the past. But the woman's voice was friendly, the Otherworld had retreated further than she could ever remember, and there was really nothing to lose at this point anyway. So she stepped forward, crossing until she stood beside the woman in front of the baker's cart.
"Are you one of the forest children?" the woman asked, a perpetual smile on her lips. "I've heard that the touch of a fairy is great luck! Do you… think yours could spare a little luck for Cupcake here? She's expecting puppies, you see."
Naizhen stared down at the indicated dog, a blond creature that did seem to have some extra weight around its belly. She was confused by the attention, confused by the request, but of her own accord the fairy floated down, alighting briefly on the dog's nose. The dog sneezed as she was leaving and she jerked and zipped inside Naizhen's hood so quickly it made her jump. "Cursed animal… reduced to a handkerchief for a dog of all things…" The fairy seemed to be muttering to herself, but she was so close to Naizhen's ear she couldn't help but overhear it.
The old woman laughed a little and clapped her hands. "Marvelous! Thank you, fairy child. Are you hungry? Could I buy you a turnover? Oh I insist, it's the least I can do…."
Naizhen had made no move to accept or refuse the offer. She had no time to respond at all before the woman turned to the baker, buying two turnovers and a muffin. She handed one of the turnovers to Naizhen and offered a grin that showed her teeth. "There you are. You know, you'd do better in the market with your hood down. You look like a beggar with it up that way, fairy child."
Naizhen managed a small, "Thank you," before she turned away, leaving the woman to move closer to the central fountain. Once she stood at the edge of the pool of water, she nibbled at the turnover and stared off toward the palace.
"The world is different now," the fairy murmured from just behind her ear. She felt the ticklish brush of tiny wings against the back of her neck. "And it needs you, Naizhen."
She made it through finishing her turnover before she gave in to curiosity. The castle guard would turn her away if she approached the palace, of course. So there was really no harm in heading that direction, seeing if there was anything to the fairy's words.
Light washed over her as she took her first steps onto the path toward the palace. The fairy flew from within her hood to circle her head. "That's right, child," the creature murmured. "This is the right way."
You may not recognize Naizhen yet, but you've met her ^_^
