The Legend of a Thief: Ocarina of Time

Chapter 12


I never thought walking down the street could be so difficult. The current night's events were still burned into my mind and I had a feeling that they would remain there forever. Each step was heavy and each person I passed felt like they were staring at me with disgust. Maybe all this was just in my head, but it may have been really happening. Either way, I definitely felt like I deserved it.

I was just a few blocks away from the house my fairy was waiting for me in, but I stopped and began to lean against a stone cold wall. People gave me strange looks, but I didn't pay them any mind. This was probably going to be necessary.

The very day I met my fairy, she told me she could read my emotions. That was the moment I knew that I would have to find a way to counter her. So, naturally, I learned to control myself a lot better. After the events of tonight, it was important to be as calm as possible.

The only thing I could think of that could make my plan go awry was the fact that I didn't know what kind of distance my fairy needed to be from me to read my emotions. When a fairy was partnered, could she feel her partner's emotions no matter the distance? Or, would that ability go away as soon as I was out of sight?

I had overlooked this earlier and I was about to find out if that mistake was going to cost me. If she had felt any of my true emotions at the moment, there would certainly be questioning and I couldn't have that.

My heartbeat was returning to normal and my breathing became more relaxed. My inner anger, confusion, and regret were all subsiding and I began to feel at peace. As soon as I felt composed enough, I pushed myself away from the wall and continued my trek to my fairy.

I was now at the front door. Pausing in front of it now, I felt a strange foreboding feeling rise in the pits of my stomach. I let it take me for a second, wondering if I had any good reason to be fearing the rest of the night. The worst has already passed, I convinced myself. How could my night get any worse than that?

Opening the door, I was expecting to be rushed by all its inhabitants, but I was met with emptiness. The area was dark and nobody was in sight. There wasn't even the faint glow of a pissed off fairy coming to greet me. This was a bit surprising, to say the least.

I lowered my eyebrows and sharpened my gaze, trying to pierce the darkness that was clouding the room and see past it, hoping to see the truth behind this situation. As far as I could tell, there wasn't anything to see. I continued forward and took a peak into the other rooms, without leaving this one.

In most rooms I checked, it seemed as if most things were in disarray. It was as if they had all just dropped what they were doing and left. Even the servants weren't here. It wasn't the time they were usually dismissed, so where were they?

It was so unlikely that it could almost be considered impossible, but I decided to check the upper rooms to see if anyone had decided to go to bed early. It was especially unlikely that my fairy would be in her room, due the fact that I wasn't there. If anything, its more likely that she was out in the city or even back at the castle looking for me.

Either way, I decided to check the rooms anyway. My room and my fairy's, were at the very end of the hall and the last one I'd check. As it turned out, I was right and every single room I checked was empty.

It was now my room's turn and I chose to get this over with quickly. I opened the door and, as I expected, it was empty. I sighed and immediately felt a sense of hopelessness wash over me. I couldn't even find a stupid fairy, could I do anything right?

I walked over to the bed and threw myself on top of it. I laid there for a while, thinking over the past few hours, on how wrong they had turned out. It was definitely a failure. Looking back, nothing I ever did turned out right. From my moment of birth onward, I couldn't think of a single important event that had gone "according to plan".

I was pretty pathetic and for some reason that made me laugh. I was the chosen hero of the Goddesses! To think that they couldn't have picked someone else! I thought Nayru was the Goddess of Wisdom? Surely she could have picked someone better, right?

I continued to laugh and, if anyone had seen me, they might have thought that I was in a very good mood. In reality though, I was dead on the inside and contemplating giving up. I knew that wasn't an option though.

I still had an ambition.

I was going to get the Triforce and become powerful. Once I had that, I wouldn't need to be afraid of anything. I had told Ganondorf that I would let him have the Triforce, but, in all honesty, that had been a lie. I had an entirely different reason for leading him to the Triforce.

The Temple of Time, the temple that holds the Sacred Realm, that would be the battle field where Ganondorf and I would fight to the death. The battle field where our dreams would collide and whoever won out, would get the Triforce.

When I saw Ganondorf, I saw myself in a strange way. The same insatiable lust for power. Was he afraid too? If so, what was he afraid of? If not, what was it that drove that lust for power? I was fascinated with Ganondorf and I wanted to give him the same chance as I had to get a hold of the Triforce.

Besides, something inside me wanted to defeat Ganondorf with my own power, not with a handicap like the Triforce. I wanted to drive Ganondorf into the ground with my own skill, especially since he made such a fool of me this evening. He would definitely be a worthy opponent and I was looking forward to it.

I began to close my eyes and drift off into sleep, but then a faint sound entered my ears. I could hear footsteps. I lifted my head and immediately pinpointed where the sound was coming from. It was coming from outside.

I jumped off my bed, jogged to the window, and immediately peered through it onto the street. To be honest, I was expecting Malon's family to be the ones coming down the street, but I was wrong.

As it turns out, a young couple were making their way down the street. It definitely wouldn't have taken a genius to figure out that something was deeply wrong. Their steps had an extra sway in them that made it look like they were almost too weak to walk. In any other situation, I would have said they were drunk, but this event brought something back to my attention.

Ganondorf had murdered someone in this area. I couldn't believe that it had slipped my mind. I must have been too disoriented from everything. I would have pondered this further, but they began to speak, halting my own thought process.

"Who? Who could have done this and why?" Her voice was surprisingly calm and presented more of a somber tone then I would have expected.

The male who was holding her loosened his grip on her once the words were spoken and it was pretty obvious he was thinking of a way to console her.

I smiled. For some reason it was a comfort for me to know that someone else was having a bad day besides me, though, I knew that those thoughts were wrong. I shouldn't be enjoying this at all, but I couldn't help but let the smile creep onto my face.

Finally, words came out of his mouth, but I could immediately tell he hadn't found any consoling words yet. "I don't know." He paused once again, but it was easy to see he was determined to keep this one short. "None of this makes sense. What are the Royal Guards doing? It's been months and yet they haven't even been able to take care of a simple murderer!" The man stopped, his breathing coming out much quicker than before, his heart rate was obviously accelerating.

The girl seemed to take this as her turn to speak, and said, "He was so kind." The words were mumbled, but it was a simple task for my ears to pick up what she was saying. "He always knew what to say. It was as if he could peer into your mind and immediately see what was wrong. I just don't understand. Who could ever kill such a good and understanding man?" It was pretty obvious to me that she hadn't paid any attention to what the male had said previously, but was instead holding a conversation with herself. Seeing that, my smile immediately faded. It had occurred to me that she was in a great deal of pain due to whichever person just got murdered, but for some reason I didn't get it. Only now, for some reason, did it ever click and I felt ashamed of myself.

Turning away from the couple, I sat myself down next to the window and slammed my head against the wall. Although I was trying not to eavesdrop on them anymore, what the male now said caught my interest.

"More importantly, what are the goddesses I bow down to everyday doing? Their very own people are being killed one by one and they aren't even lifting a finger to help us! It's like they don't even care! How can I bow down to someone who doesn't even care about their own people?" Those words hit me hard, but I didn't understand why. For some reason, they made me angry, as if they were insulting me instead of the goddesses.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one feeling the anger. It was clear that the man was having a fit of rage, while the woman, who was now paying attention to what was going on around her, tried her best to stop him. It didn't take long for her to stop him and I could soon hear their footsteps fading away in the distance.

My head too fogged to be able to understand anything clearly, I decided to forget everything around me for a second and try to find an objective. Closing my eyes helped me to focus and soon I was blinded by my own will, listening only to the faint sound of what was left of nature in this urban area.

Finally, I remembered I already had an objective and that was to continue looking for my fairy. Picking myself up from the floor, I looked onto the empty streets and, once I was sure no one was around, I jumped.

I landed onto the street in a roll and, using the roll's momentum, broke out into a sprint. I didn't know why I was running, but it didn't matter. I already had an idea on where they might be, I just had to get there.

My theory was, that they were at the scene of the murder, probably checking it out for some reason. Logically speaking, with the kind of schedule they had, where else could they be at a time like this? Also, going along with that type of thinking, if I went the opposite direction the couple went, I'd end up at least somewhere near the murder area. It definitely wasn't a perfect theory and had a lot of places where I could be wrong, but it was the best I had at the moment, so I went with it.

Evidently, best guesses were enough in this situation and I could soon make out the glow of my fairy along with several other people in the distance. My fairy seemed to sense my presence and I could immediately see her make her way over to me.

That was probably when I first began to realize how bad the situation was.

My fairy's flight pattern was different and comparable to when the Great Deku Tree died. It lacked her usual enthusiasm and bounce. Seeing this, my sprint decelerated into a walk, my arms losing all feeling and bouncing uselessly with my stride.

My fairy finally reached me, but I wasn't paying very much attention to her. My eyes were focused solely on finding out who the royal guards were carrying away; the victim in this case. The fairy didn't seem to notice this, but if she did, she didn't care. She spoke to me anyway, probably hoping I'd hear her.

"Link, I don't know how to say this, but Malon's uncle was killed." I could hear faint mumbles coming from my fairy now, or was I just tuning her out? I couldn't tell nor did it matter to me. All I could think about was Malon. I didn't see her in the crowd with her family, but I was determined to find her. Guilt seemed to replace my blood and it coursed through me continuously.

Finally, my fairy raised her voice just loud enough to be heard, saying, "Link, we have to leave now. Time is very important right now and we can't waste any."

"I have to find Malon," I retaliated.

"Finding Malon won't help her right now. I know comforting your friend may seem like the right thing to do right now, but we have to look at the bigger picture. This monster is still around and he needs to be stopped. Comforting Malon won't do that."

"So, what do you expect me to do? Just leave her like that?" I heard my fairy sigh as she realized I was going to be difficult.

"Link, Malon was sent home with Talon. No one wanted a girl her age to see this. It depends on Talon when she finds out."

"He could have told her now! Can't we just-"

"Link, listen to yourself! You didn't even care about consoling the other families that had victims until now. What makes Malon so special? You're the hero! We have duties we have to perform!"

"I know that, but Malon's a friend! That's what makes her 'special'!"

"You can't just treat someone different than others. It isn't right. Especially for the hero. We can't just show someone special treatment. If you're going to comfort one, comfort them all."

"Are you trying to say I shouldn't care? If we go by that philosophy than that means I shouldn't take any action at all anymore!"

"What I'm trying to say is that you should care, but from a distance. Don't get too involved. If you do, you'll just create weakness, like now! Your special relationship with that girl is beginning to screw up your perspective on this mission! You're beginning to lose sight of what's important and that's getting all the spiritual stones. Do you understand?"

Her strong words penetrated my thoughts more than I realized, but all I could do was nod my head. Her words sounded a lot like what I'd tell myself, but for some reason, that warning hadn't reached my ears when it came to her. She'd become a weakness and I knew I had to eradicate it soon. Maybe this wasn't exactly what my fairy had meant, but that didn't matter. My fairy's and my own goal were very different anyway.

"Okay then," my fairy began. Now that she had me focusing again, she motioned for us to distance ourselves from the scene of the crime. Continuing, she said, "We need to get out of Castle Town, quickly. If that murder is any indicator, I'd say our time to collect the stones is running short." I nodded once again and we both ran off for the exit.

While we ran, I asked, "What makes you think our time is running short?" I had to dodge and weave through many people while making that statement, which wasn't as easy as it may seem.

"I'm surprised you didn't notice. Are you sure you can't figure it out?" I rolled my eyes as I spun around someone carrying his groceries, probably home.

"Just tell me. I don't need you belittling me right now." My fairy didn't include any sly comment, which was, of course, unusual, but instead went straight to answering my question.

"Well, it all has to do with the location of the murder. Where were all the other murders besides this one done?"

"The back alleys."

"Exactly! And which side of town are the back alleys located?"

"The west." As soon as those words left my lips, I knew where my fairy was going with this. "I see what you're saying." My fairy chuckled lightly, without the slightest sound of amusement in her voice.

"So, you're finally catching on."

"Yeah, what you're saying is that since most of the murders occurred in the west side of town, the poor side, now that a murder has been committed on the east side, the prominent side, he's building up confidence. You're thinking that he must have made some sort of breakthrough if he's bold enough to attack the nobles and I agree. Murdering the peasants isn't treated as such a high priority as when a noble gets killed. So, in theory, doing that is very risky, but he's doing it anyway and it just started tonight. It makes a lot of sense, in my opinion."

Saying all of that while keeping up with my fairy and avoiding a straight-on collision with someone was very difficult.

"Correct, Link." I could see the lowered drawbridge and immediately picked up the pace. Judging by the time it was, which was late evening, it wouldn't stay open for very long. We got across the wooden bridge when we stopped to catch our breath. Well, at least I did. I wasn't exactly sure if my fairy had to worry about that kind of thing.

As soon as I had enough breath to speak, which wasn't long, I asked, "So, what do you suppose we do now that we're out of Castle Town?"

"Well, Zelda said the other two stones were with the Gorons and the Zoras, right? If what she said is true then the closest stone would be the stone with the Gorons."

"Do you know where the Gorons are?"

"Of course I do. They live on Death Mountain."

"That sounds like a lovely place."

My fairy groaned. "That's such an old joke." Ignoring my glare, she continued, "Anyway, if you look toward the east you can see the mountain. That'll be where we're headed. There's a small settlement at the foot of the mountain named Kakariko Village. We can use that village as a resting area." I began to think about my fairy's plan, while wondering if it really was the best course of action.

"Is there any other reason for going to that place first? Because if not, then I'd say we should go for the farthest one first and work our way back to Castle Town. I think it'd be more practical that way."

"Well, it's a good thing I do have another reason for us going for this stone first then."

"And what would that be?"

"Well, if we stop there first, I'm sure we'd be able to kill two birds with one stone." My fairy was interrupted from continuing by the whine of grinding metal and the creaking of old wood. Looking over, I could see that the bridge was being lifted, cutting anyone off from entering.

Trying to keep us focused on the subject, I turned away from my fairy and asked, "and how's that?" My fairy tore her eyes away from the closing bridge and made a tiny coughing sound, which I assumed was her clearing her puny throat.

"The Village of Kakariko is well known for a few reasons. The reason I'm focused on is the fact that Hyrule buries their dead there. Of course, that mostly includes people higher up on the social ladder, but I know for a fact that we'll find all the murder victims buried there as well."

"But if what you said is true, why would they bury anyone from the west side there? Aren't they all peasants?"

"That's true, but they're not normal peasants are they? They were murdered and that of course makes everyone in that area nervous. If the King just ignored the situation, what do you think would happen?" I took a second to think this over, but I had a feeling I knew where this was going. I also knew I didn't have all the facts yet, so I gave the best answer I could.

"Well, they would all feel insecure and begin to feel contempt toward the King, right?"

"Exactly! The King knows this and so, in order to not lose their trust, is giving them all an honorary burial. There is also another reason they're all being moved to Kakariko Graveyard and that is the fact that they would have a much better chance of figuring out what happened to them there. You want to know why?" My eyes traveled downward as I began to feel a little incapable once again. How is it that she could know all this?

"Well, yeah." My fairy hesitated for a second and my eyes drifted back towards her; leaving me wondering if she could tell what just went through my head.

"Umm, well, the people that run the Graveyard aren't exactly normal. You see, not only do they take care of the dead people, but they are also trained to figure out the cause of death. There's no doubt in my mind that the King would want that." I nodded my head. It would definitely be a wise decision on the King's part to try to figure out how those murders were committed. Looking back on the day I found that woman brutally killed on my first night in Castle Town, I could definitely see why they'd need professionals to figure out the cause of death. What in the world could tear a woman up like that?

"So, why do the Graveyard Keepers need to be able to determine the cause of death anyway? Shouldn't that belong to a different department?" My fairy thought about this for a second before she bobbed her body in a shrugging motion.

"I would naturally think so too, but I get the feeling the current King is more of a lazy one that doesn't put much thought into things. He probably figured that since the important dead people go there anyway it would be better to put their investigation teams in charge of that as well. His own way of killing two birds with one stone, I guess?" I gave my fairy a light smirk.

"I guess its time to take advantage of that, huh?" In actuality, I wasn't feeling like smirking at all, but I couldn't let my fairy notice that. Casually, I began to walk in the direction of the mountain. My fairy got the message quickly and was by my side in seconds.

While we walked, I asked, "So, how'd you know that stuff anyway?"

"What do you mean?"

I shrugged as I kicked a rock along the road. "That information seemed to be way too detailed to have merely been made up on the go." My fairy let loose a light chuckle.

"Well, to be honest, doing all that snooping around inside the castle really gives you the opportunity to learn some interesting things."

"You found all that out when I had you learn things about the castle's interior?"

"Yeah, pretty much. People talk and it was a nice opportunity to learn things. It seemed like the right thing to do." I nodded while walking.

"Well, it was, but why didn't you tell me anything about this stuff?"

"I didn't think it was especially crucial to the current mission. It's better not to bother you with details that might distract you from our goal." My hands found their way to my belt and I grabbed it, all the while releasing a heavy sigh. For some reason it bothered me to know she withheld information from me. It was hypocritical, but I couldn't help but wish she would just tell me everything.

"Link, there's one more thing I should tell you." I looked at her and let my annoyance become slightly visible. What else could she need to tell me?

"What is it?"

"Well, remember what we said about the murders making the civilians feel contempt toward the King?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah."

"A little while after that knowledge came to my attention, I began to think. Could Ganondorf know what his actions are doing to the civilian's relationship with the king? Once I thought of that, I began to try to put myself in his shoes and think. I thought about it for a while and soon all of his actions began to make more sense to me. In particular those murders. At first glance, wouldn't murdering all those people seem like a bad idea? Especially if you wanted to take over the country? It didn't make sense! All that would do is draw unnecessary attention to yourself if caught and it would put the Royal Guard on high alert. Definitely not what someone in his position would want, right?" As she said that, I immediately knew what kind of conclusion she was coming to and I agreed that it made sense.

"But that's only at first glance," I continued for her. "If you look deeper, you can see all the effects it would have on the people. Anger, fear, and distrust would grow like a wild fire. Most of it would all be geared toward the people in charge also, namely the King and his Royal Guards. If the murderer isn't caught, then those emotions only grow until, finally, their relationship is in shambles." I paused as my foot got caught in a small hole on the road, causing me to stumble a little.

"Exactly the type of situation Ganondorf would want," my fairy finished for me. As I dusted myself off I nodded my head.

"In that type of situation it would be easy for Ganondorf to manipulate the people and rally support. If people believe he can bring change, they'll hop on his bandwagon without a second thought and the King will be powerless to do anything about it."

"Yeah," my fairy started. "With that in mind, you can really see how clever Ganondorf is. I mean, just with all that you can see how well planned his takeover is. He's slowly working on the civilians and even working on the upperclassmen. Even now, he might have supporters that we don't even know about. With this in mind, Link, we need to be careful on who we trust. Anyone can be a potential enemy, got it?" I looked up at the night sky and just nodded my head. "Also, that means we can't hide anything from each other, right? I mean, if we can't trust each other then Ganondorf has already won." I tried to put on my best smile, but I'm sure my fairy saw through it. I was calm compared to how I was earlier, but my emotions were still a mess. I was hoping my fairy would chalk it all up to Malon's uncle's murder and not to anything else.

"I agree, Navi. We need to be able to tell each other everything."

"Well, I-" she seemed to find trouble putting together this sentence and that raised my curiosity. "I think I owe you an apology, Link."

Raising an eyebrow, I asked, "And why's that?"

"I haven't exactly been...a good partner to you."

"How's that?"

"I don't trust you, Link." The words came out plain and simple and I felt a sharp jabbing in my stomach; something reminiscent of getting stabbed and being left to die. "To tell you the truth, I've never trusted you. I've done my best to be a good partner, but I'm afraid that whenever you leave my side for even just a second, you'll do something regrettable. I know this isn't the kind of feelings I should feel towards you, but I can't help it and I need to apologize."

"Navi, it's alright. I've done some things I'm not proud of and you have every right to be wary of me."

"No, Link. Like I said earlier, if we can't trust each other, this partnership won't work and we won't be able to protect Hyrule. While you have done some things that neither of us are proud of, all of those mistakes are partly my fault."

"They are not-"

"Yes they are. You're only 12 years old, Link. How can anyone expect a 12 year old to make any of the correct decisions in this type of situation? You've got a lot of weight on your shoulders and I'm supposed to be lightening the load, not throwing it all on you. That's my duty and from now on, I'm going to trust you on your decisions." My stunned face was probably embarrassingly obvious.

"Navi, I, uh, I don't know what to say..."

"This is your mission, Link. I'm going to let you take the lead from now on. My job is to be your support and that's what I'll be."

I grinned.

"Then I think we should go to Zora's domain first..."

She gave an annoyed sigh. "Oh come on! Don't just discard my last decision out of spite like that!"

"Don't worry about it so much. I was just messing with you. We're still going on to Kakariko Village."

My fairy chuckled.

"That's good to hear." We continued to walk and I was hoping for silence, but not long after her last statement, my fairy opened her mouth again. "But, just so you know, I'll still voice my opinion on every matter! Just because you're in charge doesn't mean I'm just gonna sit here quietly, you know."

I rolled my eyes.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you." My fairy just laughed lightly, leaving me to smile for a reason unknown to her. I couldn't believe she had been so easy! I didn't even have to do anything and my fairy was already taking steps to eradicate her mistrust in me. Her mistrust was one of my biggest obstacles and she was neatly taking care of it for me herself. She was blinded by that sense of duty and I was certainly grateful for that.

I looked up as we walked and began to stare at the moon. It was beautiful and made me smile while I reflected on my day. At first glance, it had been a failure and I could still feel my guilt from earlier, but the fact was I was now moving onto the second spiritual stone, my fairy was giving up her control, and I had grown stronger.

Today had been more successful than I had previously imagined.

The image flashed in my head. The guard's slit throat and his blood, colliding with my knees. It was so sudden and quick I tripped, landing flat on my face.

"Link! You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Didn't see that rock is all..." I forced myself up and continued walking. This was going to be a problem, I realized. I was still not able to forget my feelings. I had to though. If this continued, I would fail and that would be the end of me. I needed to bury my feelings. They were a distraction. The path I was walking was not easy and, to be successful, I couldn't have anything that could divert my attention.

As we continued to walk, I closed my eyes. I was going to disown my emotions. I didn't need them.

Not where I was going.