Chapter Twelve: A Master's Teacher
Title: Legend of Zelda - The True Force
Chapter: 12
Author: Hikari no Vikki
Genre: Action/Adventure
Disclaimer: I have a kite, a figurine… that's about all I own. Seriously.
Description: A modern Hyrule is in chaos. After reconstruction from the receding sea, the New Hyrule is literally built from the ashes of the Old Kingdom. However, history is destined, or rather, determined to repeat itself.
Author's Notes- School is pretty good so far… I even understand most of my Calculus homework. It's kind of weird… but well, I can't complain. Still, I'd like to remind you that updates will be kind of erratic depending on what I'm doing (or not doing – I procrastinate even when I'm writing sometimes) but I won't stop working on this. This should definitely be done by January if not like December or something. But, yeah. That's just a reminder. Oh, and I'd like to remind you that reviews make me (inclined to) update on time. So do that! All right, go, enjoy the fruits of my labor. Just be sure to thank me for it. :D
When Link opened his eyes and saw beams of thick, sturdy wood bracing the walls and the ceiling, he thought for just a moment that he was back home in forest, and the past four days had been nothing but a nightmare.
Unfortunately, once other things that hung in the edges of his vision caught his eye, he realized that it hadn't been a dream at all, though it could possibly still be considered to be a nightmare. He saw the sword and the leather band leaning against the wall with his Hylian Shield and he stared at it.
He wasn't aware of it, but his eyes held a soft, weary look that didn't belong on his youthful face. It belonged on a much older man, and the soul inside this young man was even younger than he appeared, since the four days that he remembered in his mind actually consisted of four days and seven years to everyone else. He sighed, and got up to walk through the quiet house – Impa's house, he dimly remembered – and made his way to the front porch in his bare feet, tan leggings, and thin white undershirt.
Link sat on the far side of the simple, yet artfully carved wooden bench on the porch, and stared after the beginnings of the morning sunrise. He wasn't sure what time it was – his Goron Bracelet had disappeared along with the rest of his childhood weapons – but he didn't really mind. The slowness of the early hour was soothing, and he let it wash over him and calm his mind.
For a long time, all that seemed to exist was the silence. He didn't even notice when another early riser padded out to the porch and sat down beside him on the bench.
"Hello, Link."
Link sat up straighter; he ought to have been more alert. But he simply let the thought go, it wasn't worth it to pursue that train of ideas. He glanced over at the speaker, and found it to be Obi-Wan. He raised one eyebrow. Had the Jedi sought him out, or was he just trying to get to make conversation with the only other person who was actually up at this hour?
"Hello, sir."
The older man laughed softly, a smile tugging gently at the corners of his mouth.
"Don't call me that, please. It makes me feel old. Only Anakin, my Padawan, is obligated to call me that." Link relaxed, and returned the gesture with a slight smile of his own. "All right then. But I can't promise you it won't happen again. Force of habit, you see." Obi-Wan nodded, the smile fading, though it lingered in the light of his eyes.
"At least you have a habit. I can barely get Anakin to have manners on command!"
Link laughed softly and threw his head back; righting himself and looking back at the sunrise once the laughter had passed. "Perhaps that's your problem. He doesn't strike me as the type to be trained to do everything. I think, as far as manners are concerned, simple positive reinforcement would do quite nicely." Obi-Wan shook his head.
"Unfortunately, such an approach would entice attachment, something Anakin is inclined to do far more often than most Jedi." Link frowned. "Why is that a bad thing? Attachment?" Obi-Wan seemed surprised. "Attachment is not a bad thing. It just creates more problems than it solves, which is why we are discouraged against forming those attachments." Link's mouth twitched in a smile. "I see. I had just assumed from the tone of your voice that it was. Though, I must say, what you've just told me cannot always be true. You are his teacher; it is only natural for a student to form a bond with their teacher. Such things should not be fought."
Obi-Wan shook his head. "Perhaps you're right. Anakin is… special. Things with him work differently." Link hummed quietly. "And you said that these attachments are only discouraged, did you not? They are not expressively forbidden?" Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, I suppose not. It's possible I might take your suggestion into consideration."
He paused to turn slightly in Link's direction and look him over.
"You know, you sound different than I would assume someone of your age usually would." Link frowned, his expression becoming vaguely bitter.
"Hmm. You forget, I was trapped in that place for seven years… I drew the sword as a child and woke up as an adult. But, I don't know anymore. How old I am. Physically, I know how old I am. I should be seventeen, I think. But as for my age internally… well. That kind of experience certainly throws you for a loop. That, and this Din forsaken quest…" He sighed, reaching up with his right hand to thread his fingers through his rumpled blond hair.
"I don't know old I am anymore… but I feel older than I should be. Like I've lost something I can never get back." He gave the older man a sad smile.
"That may be why I sound different than what you would expect me to sound like." Yet, after a moment, Link's sad smile morphed into something a little lighter. Not happier, but lighter. "Though I suppose, it is the circumstances of our lives that make us who we are, and tell us how fast we need to grow. I might feel and sound older than I should be, but perhaps, this is the way I need to feel if I am going to complete the task I was given."
Then he simply sat back to enjoy the sunrise. Obi-Wan sat back too, and thought about what Link had said. He could no longer think about the man sitting beside him as 'young' at all. And there was a strange truth to his words that one could not ignore; a power that burned and molded thoughts just as his mind tricks did, but with a more honest and forthright persuasion.
Suddenly, he could not find the words to describe the rightness of it all. He could match snippets of it to insufficient words like purpose, existence, or appropriateness… but none of them even came close to describing how absolutely necessary Obi-Wan could sense that their presence here was.
Or how much the fate of the entire universe depended on their success.
Enough time had passed that the sun had finally risen over the horizon and Link could hear the beginnings of stirrings inside the house. He smiled, remembering the knowledge that his hearing was far better than Obi-Wan's. The older man noticed his smile and asked him about it.
"What's so funny?" Link grinned. "Miss Anju is getting dressed so she can make us breakfast. I think we should go wake up our companions and do the same." Obi-Wan laughed darkly. "Good luck getting Anakin to wake up." Link's grin widened even more, if that were possible.
"I have just the thing."
Moments later, a deafening Cucco crow echoed through the house, and was subsequently followed by a lot of swearing in a decidedly masculine voice.
"I am going to kill that bird…" Anakin grumbled as he picked up his clothes and stumbled into the bathroom. "I wouldn't try that," Link called after him just before he shut the bathroom door, "because believe me, I have." After the door slammed shut, Obi-Wan was staring over Link's shoulder at the fluffy white creature.
"Hey, can I have that?" Link grinned. "Sure, if we live through this."
Ashei stared thoughtfully at the little bird. "Now Navi's comment about the Cucco makes sense… you keep it in your hat?" Link shrugged. "It's not like I can keep it anywhere else, and it won't leave me alone…" Ashei laughed.
"It's not so funny when you're the one who's on the receiving end of that thing," Navi muttered. Link hummed shortly in agreement.
Once they were all dressed and ready, Anju began to serve then breakfast. Link appreciated the meal more than his companions, since it was the first hot meal he had eaten in a long time. "It was nothing, really," she told him, "it's the least I can do to be a good host."
"You're already invaluable to me," said Impa as she walked into the dining room, "and I appreciate the service you've done for my guests." Anju nodded as she finished up her portion of the food, getting up to serve her mistress and eventually exiting the house to go tend her Cuccos. Impa turned to Link as she ate and spoke directly to him between bites.
"So what exactly is it that you've come to Kakariko for? I believe… there isn't much here that would be able to aid you in your quest, child." Link shook his head. "That's not what I was told. Someone named Sheik told me to go to Kakariko's Graveyard to looked for something that could give me access to the Forest Temple. Do you know if there is anything of note there that might be useful?"
"Sheik… told you." Link straightened at the change of tone in her voice.
"Yes, why? Do you know him? He said he was a Sheikah." He watched Impa very carefully, but the iron-clad woman was as expressive as a stone.
"Yes, I believe I do know him…" she said quietly. Then her eyes locked on him sharply, setting Link's nerves on edge, and he very much wished his sword wasn't on the other side of the room. "So he sent you here to find something in the graveyard?" She closed her eyes and was quiet for a moment. After a few more moments she opened them and leaned back in her simple wooden chair.
"There might indeed be something of note there, but…" – here her lips turned upwards in a small smile – "the only one who might know where it is happens to be part of the graveyard's local population."
"What?" Anakin muttered, very obviously confused. Obi-Wan frowned, and decided to supply his Padawan with the translation. "She means the person who knows where this thing might be located is already dead. So who was it, and did they leave any clues as to where it might be?"
And what were they looking for?
"It was Kakariko's one and only grave keeper, Dampé. The man was… rather odd, but he occasionally said something about a 'treasure' he had hidden. No one could ever figure out if he was telling the truth, though perhaps there may be something to his story. However, as he is dead, no one actually knows. There might be clues to where it is inside his house, which is located inside the graveyard itself, so you should start there if you're brave enough." She grinned at the four of them, and Ashei frowned.
"You still haven't been able to find a replacement for him? It's been what, five years?" Ashei asked quietly. Impa shrugged. "No one will even set foot in there to pay their respects to the dead. Too many Poes wandering about, and not enough bowmen in the village to fend them off."
Ashei nodded. "I see. But they shouldn't be a problem for us." She stood up and nodded to their host, glancing at the rest of her companions.
"Shall we go?"
They nodded in turn and all began to stand to suit up for their travels. Impa held up a hand, asking them to wait. "Wait a moment." She motioned for Link to come to her, and he did, stopping at what he felt was a safe enough distance away from the warrior woman. She noticed his wariness and smiled.
"Hold out your right gauntlet for me, yes? Come now, I don't bite." She chuckled. "Much, anyway." Link realized she was simply joking and so held out his right gauntlet at her request. He wasn't sure what he expected her to do with it, so he was mildly surprised when she supplied him with an insert for the gauntlet that displayed a digital clock that was similar to the one that had been in his Goron Bracelet. He blinked at it, amazed.
"Thank you," he whispered. She waved him away. "It's nothing, child. Now, go suit up. And if you find whatever it is you're looking for, I would like you to come back for a lesson. That sword you're wielding is little more that if you don't have some measure of control, and I can teach you the basics."
Link nodded. "Of course, ma'am. We'll be back soon. I'm sure this won't take long." Impa smiled a sly smile, which almost made him want to take back his words, but the gleam in her eyes was fiery and hard. "Make absolutely sure you do just that, Hero." He almost flinched at the name, but had to settle for half a grimace since he could hear the order in her words.
He nodded again, and motioned for his companions to ready themselves.
After some asking around, and a little direction on Ashei's part, the four travelers eventually arrived at the Kakariko Graveyard. It was like most graveyards, littered with pathways and gravestones, some larger and some more important than others… but Link noticed there was a distinctly dark presence lurking in the area. It was damp, too. Reminded him of being inside the Deku Tree's underground root chamber. He didn't like it at all.
"We should hurry and find whatever that clue is. Impa said we should look in his house to see if he'd left a note or something. I don't like it here…"
The two Jedi felt much the same. Ashei had never liked the graveyard even before it had become infested with Poes and whatever else, so she quickly directed them so a small shack just around the right of the entrance. However, upon finding the door to the shack locked, she frowned, and paused a moment to call upon her inner calm and nudge the lock free with a small use of the Force. Link twitched behind her, sensing the change even before the lock clicked open.
"What was that you did just now?" He asked her quietly. She glanced back at him before opening the door and entering the shack. "A simple Force command. Most Jedi and Force-adepts are taught basic skills like the one I just performed." She frowned as she began pawing through the loose papers on one side of a wooden desk and added as afterthought, "Though most of them aren't taught to use such skills to ah… uh, pick a lock."
Anakin laughed softly. "You got that right. Hey!" He ducked in order to avoid a badly aimed punch from Obi-Wan. "Don't you go getting any ideas now, Padawan." Anakin grinned. "Oh, never!" Obi-Wan sighed.
Link simply chuckled at the exchange before turning back to Ashei.
"Hey, what is it we're looking for?" Ashei cast him a withering look, though her eyes shone fever-bright. "To be honest, I don't really know." She sighed, looking through the papers again. "Perhaps we should have asked Impa more questions… sheesh, who knew the village nut-job was actually a genius packrat?" Link shook his head and turned to a book lying on his side of the desk. Something was sticking out of the side, like a marker of some kind.
He picked it up and thumbed to passage that was marked. He frowned when the words that caught his eye weren't written in the common tongue. It was… some pretty ancient Hylian, though he found he could actually make most of it out. He reached out absentmindedly, aiming for Ashei's shoulder.
"Hey, hey! Look! I think I found something!"
His hand had pretty much missed its mark, coming very close to her chest, so she backed away and caught his hand while blushing furiously even though she knew he hadn't done it on purpose.
"What is it?" Obi-Wan asked, coming further inside with Anakin close behind him. Link frowned. "I think… I found Dampé's diary. But it's strange. It's written in a pretty archaic version of the written Hylian language… definitely hundreds of years old, if not thousands." Ashei looked over the text as well, though she could only manage to make out a few words and phrases. "Yeah. Strange. You sure you can read that?"
Link nodded, and flipped the page. He had a hard time keeping the book in his hands as something heavy almost slipped out of the pages.
"Hey," whispered Anakin, "is that a…" Ashei nodded. "It's a holo-disk."
Ashei picked it up out of the diary and Link set the book on the table. "A holo-disk? Stuck almost halfway through a dead man's diary?" Obi-Wan frowned. "Moreover, how are we going to play it? I don't seen how we can do that here…" Ashei set the disk down on the desk and knelt, crawling underneath the desk to pull something out and lug it on top of the sturdy wooden surface.
"That's how. I must admit it is pretty ancient, being almost like the record player of the holo-disk history, but… it should get the job done."
The contraption she'd pulled out from underneath the desk was similar to a record player in shape, though it lacked the megaphone or the standard needle that usually came with such a thing. There was simply a set of buttons along the top edge that faced the four of them, an inky black dot in the middle of it, and a thin rectangle on the side for something to be inserted.
Ashei pressed a button on the left side and the thing whirred to life, a clear white dot that Link hadn't spotted now glowing a soft green. She took the disk and pulled it carefully from its protective sleeve, inserting it into the player and pressing another button the Link assumed would play the disk.
And it did. It turned out the disk wasn't simply a verbal recording, but a visual one as well, since the inky black dot in the center of player flashed white and began creating a holographic image of a haggard looking young man who appeared to be in his early thirties, though it was hard to be sure. His tiny round glasses and short, wild auburn hair clashed starkly with his sharp cheekbones and stern eyes, making his age almost indescribable.
"Hello," said the hologram, "my name is Shad Dampé. I am sure you are probably wondering about a lot of things right now, my keepsake included." The hologram of Dampé frowned and paused for a moment as it muttered something like, "…and it is a keepsake, not a treasure!" before shaking his head and straightening himself a little and continuing to speak.
"However, before I get to telling you where exactly my keepsake is located, I must tell you the exact circumstances of my death, even though they have not yet happened at the time of this recording. You see, the Poes that have been popping up more and more often lately see me, the graveyard's caretaker, as a threat, and so I am to be removed. I have a hypothesis that this removal may be underneath the Evil King's orders, but I have no proof."
Dampé paused, and angled his head as if listening for something, but he turned back to face the camera. "So that is what really happened to me, not whatever stories you may have heard floating about the village gossips. As for my keepsake, I buried it in my grave a long time ago, and it should still be there at the time of my burial with no one the wiser. Please, you have my permission to defile my grave and enter the tunnels beneath it. I don't have much time left in which to say that the only reason I even left this recording is because I glimpsed a bit of the future and saw whoever found this recording would need my keepsake to defeat the Evil King. And, since I have nothing better to do after I die, I think I shall challenge you first to see if you are worthy."
For the first time, the man grinned, and a fire burned in his sharp blue eyes.
"I'll be waiting for you, Hero of Time."
And then the recording shorted out, the time limit reached and the disk ejected. For a while, there was only silence, until Ashei turned to Link.
"So, ah… what now?" Link looked pointedly at her. "What else? We go find that grave and find those tunnels. Oh, and complete whatever test he's set for us as well. I see no better course of action." Behind him, Obi-Wan nodded, and as he began speaking, Link and Ashei turned to face him.
"I believe Link is right. While I wouldn't normally agree to something like this, there is a certain element that we can't ignore." Link nodded. "He made several references to things he couldn't have known at the time he recorded that, so based on that alone the information about the keepsake is credible. Trust is another matter, but… well…" Anakin nodded. "We're pressed for time, right?" Link hummed in agreement.
"Well!" said Ashei as she clapped her hands together, "I know which grave is his, so come on and follow me!" She paused at the door and looked back at Link. "Would you lock the door on your way out?" Link nodded. "Sure."
Anakin and Obi-Wan followed her out and Link after them. He took a moment to recall how the power Ashei had used felt to his senses and instinctually drew upon his calm to fuel the power that would bring the locking mechanism back into place. It clicked sharply and he smiled, turning back around to catch up with his companions as the gentle power calmed him. What had Ashei called it? The Force?
"Here it is!" Link looked up to see Ashei standing next to a particular gravestone with a familiar name on it: Shad Dampé.
"How are we supposed to move it to gain access to the tunnels?" Link asked, looking the thing over. Ashei walked behind the grave and motioned for him to come around. She pointed to some cleverly concealed handholds on the sides. "I think you can use these to pull it back, but…" Link grabbed the handles and pulled as hard as his adult strength would allow. The gravestone shifted, but it didn't move back as it had probably been intended to do.
Link swore under his breath. "Without a grave keeper, these graves have been unattended for five years!" Ashei nodded, frowning. "And some of the visitors usually clean them, too. So of course they'd be rusted."
She studied the gravestone and after a few moments, then turned to Obi-Wan with an idea. "Do you think it would be possible if one could push this back past the safety catches with just the Force?" Obi-Wan frowned. "Maybe… but you'd have an insane amount of control."
"Like Yoda, right?" Anakin supplied. Obi-Wan breathed sharply through his nose. "At the very least. And it's Master Yoda, Anakin."
Meanwhile, Link was crouching by the handholds, staring at the rust and grime. Maybe, if he could just… make it fall off? He studied the tracks underneath the gravestone as well, and took off his hat to dig through it for the bottle of water he hoped he still had in there. Sure enough, he did.
"You think it'll work?" he asked Navi quietly. She shrugged. "Water is water. I don't think it makes much of a difference how long it's been in that bottle." Link nodded and uncorked it, using the gentle power of the Force to peel the flakes off from the handholds and the tracks, using the water to clear away the debris and make the wheels of the gravestone functional again. He stood up, pulled on the handholds, and promptly fell backwards on the grass as the squeaky-clean wheels shot all the way to the end of the track, locking into place once it did so. Link sat up, shaking his head to get the grass out of his hair and realized that his three companions were staring at him.
"What, I got it open," he said as he pushed himself up. Ashei eyed him suspiciously. "How, exactly?" He shrugged. "Simple. I just pried off the rusty flakes and washed them away so the wheels could turn again. Easier than just trying to shove it past the safety catches, I thought."
"Well, it's certainly an inventive way of doing it…" Obi-Wan muttered.
Link waved a hand towards them. "It's open isn't it? Come on!" And then he jumped down the hole the gravestone had revealed that would lead into the tunnels. Ashei jumped in after him, and Anakin was about to follow before he turned to his master. "I swear, it won't be like the last time we went down a long dark tunnel!" Obi-Wan scowled. "Better not be… or I think this time I'll do more than threaten to have your head…" Anakin laughed and jumped down, Obi-Wan following after him.
Once all four travelers had safely landed on the bottom, Link and Ashei's ears twitched at the familiar sound of sliding stone. Ashei frowned. "Let's hope there's another way out?" Link simply shot her a look before heading down the dimly lit tunnel and out into a wide white room supported all around by white stone columns. He seemed almost surprised to see a plain redwood coffin lying on the center dais, with a transparent man sitting on top of it, reading a transparent book that was propped up on one knee.
The ghost looked over when he heard the four enter the room, and was slightly surprised himself when he caught of them.
"Shad!" Ashei gasped when she saw the man, "Is that you?"
The translucent man put down his book, which vanished into thin air once it left his fingers. He stared at Ashei for a moment, his thin faintly auburn eyebrows knitting together.
"I am Shad Dampé, yes. But you are… Ashei?" Shad sat up straighter, and blinked. "So you've come to retrieve my keepsake, hmm?" Link folded his arms. "Something like that." Shad grinned, the fire they'd seen burning in his eyes in the hologram burned in them now once he captured Link's gaze.
"Ah, the Hero." Link scowled. "I have a name…" Shad laughed. "And what is this name?"
"Link," he replied quietly.
Shad nodded, his grin relaxing into a smug smile. "Well now, Link, how about that challenge I proposed? Surely you found my hologram recording, otherwise you wouldn't be here!" Ashei frowned. "We almost couldn't get in… there hasn't been a grave keeper to tend the graves since you died, so no one's been to clean or maintain the graves for a long time. Yours had almost rusted through. Too many Poes about, you see. Or at least that's what Impa told us." Link nodded. "Though we'll take you up on that offer of yours."
"You sure that's wise?" Obi-Wan asked. Link simply gestured to the ghost, as if that made all the sense in the world. Obi-Wan shook his head while Anakin grinned slyly in silence.
Shad sighed. "I thought as much. Well, it's just as good you managed a way in then." He stood up on top of the coffin and stretched, looking down on them once he was finished. "Say my friends, are you fast on your feet? I may be a scholar, but since I became a Force ghost I've found myself to be an exceptional racing rival. So, let's have a race!"
He laughed. "Follow me if you dare!" Then he turned around and hopped off the opposite side of the coffin to run into the tunnels. Link and Ashei shared a look for the briefest of moments before Link dashed off after him, Ashei quickly motioning for Anakin and Obi-Wan to follow them as she bolted.
"Hey, Ashei!" Link called from somewhere father up, "Watch out for the daggers!" Ashei frowned, panting as she ran. "Wha-ah!" She skidded around a flying piece of metal that embedded itself in the ground behind her. "What was-ah!" Another dagger flew past her as she had to make a Force jump into the air to dodge it. "Sheesh, is he trying to kill us? What exactly does he think constitutes as a race?"
"Ah, this?" Anakin muttered under his breath.
"No kidding," said Ashei through gritted teeth, though her actual words were much less cleaner.
Finally, after ascending a large stone ramp in a tall room they entered a door and promptly collapsed on the floor once the realized they no longer had to run for their lives. Shad, looking rather smug and playing with a short, one handed dagger in his right hand, glanced down at the travelers with a smile.
"So, you made it! Very nice! You must be quite the runners to be able to keep up with me!" Ashei just sort of glared at him while the others simply stared at him incredulously.
"So…" Link began, "about that keepsake of yours?"
The dagger Shad had been playing with disappeared as he looked pointedly at Link. "Hmm. You waste no time, don't you? I suppose it's a good thing… perhaps the Evil King will be felled after all, with your go-to sort of attitude…" Shad's eyes became wistful, but he shook it off and held out his right hand in a gesture familiar to Link.
"My special keepsake is an object called a Hookshot. It's a spring-loaded chain that will pull you to any spot where its hook sticks. It will also pull any objects that are lighter than you are towards you, instead bringing you to them." He stared fiercely at Link. "Did you get all that?" Link nodded.
"All right, here." He called a bright power that was also familiar to Link, though it was very different from the Force. It was magic. Link held out his left hand, pulling the magic to him like the Great Fairy had taught him.
Suddenly there was a bright flash of light, and a small blue and silver contraption sat in Link's hand, with a handle on one end and a sharp hook on the other. Shad nodded in approval as Link pocketed the mechanism. "Now, you'll have to oil it every so often, or the chain might snap at a critical moment. You can buy some oil from the Bazaar shop in the village, I think. So take very good care of that, you understand?" Link nodded.
"Yes, sir. Say, um… how do we get out of here?"
Shad grinned and gestured to a door behind him. "Just go through that door there. I promise, it's safe." His grin morphed into a bitter smile. "I wish all of you much luck. You'll need it." Then he disappeared, leaving no traces of him behind, except the memory of his presence.
"So that's what we came here to find?" Anakin asked skeptically.
"Yes," said Link, "it's something that I need apparently. Anyway, let's head back to the village. I need to make good on my promise to Impa."
The four of them headed through the tunnel and eventually came out on the top of a very brightly lit room where music flitted through the air constantly. Ashei first whimpered, then scowled once she saw where they were.
"Doesn't he understand the meaning of the word 'safe'? This isn't safe!"
Link simply shot her a look. "Ashei…" She rolled her eyes. "I know, I know… fine. Shutting up now." Link smiled a little and chuckled before jumping down to the floor, his companions following him.
"Hey," Anakin said once he noticed the man playing the musical instrument, "who's that? And where are we?" Ashei glanced over at the man and then their surroundings. "I think we're inside the windmill… so that must be the caretaker. I wonder why he looks angry…"
"Hey, um… sir?" Link asked timidly, "Are you all right?"
The man snarled. "No, I'm not all right!" Link took a step back, seeing the crazed gleam in the man's eyes. If this guy's crazy was contagious, he didn't want it. He quite liked his sanity.
""I'll never forget what happened on that day seven years ago… argh! It's all that Ocarina kid's fault! Next time he comes around here, I'm gonna mess him up!" Link jerked his head in the direction of the door, motioning for his friends to head that way. Once outside, Navi fluttered outside Link's hat, her glow diminishing until her tiny humanoid frame remained.
"What did he mean about 'that Ocarina kid'? Surely he didn't mean you? We never entered the windmill seven years ago…" Link frowned. "Maybe he's just nuts. Seems like we're attracting a lot of those people lately…"
So they shook off the encounter and made their way back to Impa's house. Impa was waiting for them, a long, thin sword strapped to her side.
"Well, let's begin!"
She took them to a fenced in area near the center of the village and people gathered to watch the spectacle, even Ashei, Anakin, and Obi-Wan sitting on the sidelines. For Ashei it was hard not to call out the mistakes Link was making with his footwork, but he growled at her as he locked blades with Impa, saying, "Do you think it matters to the monsters whether your footwork is correct?" Obi-Wan pointed it out to her that Link had a point.
Well, it wasn't like her fighting was any better. In fact, it was more animalistic than Link's was, but her blows hit more often in the places she intended them to, and she could get more of them in at a time, since her sword was shorter. However, when Impa commanded the pair of them to fight each other, she found that Link was faster on his feet than with his hands, and she had a harder time getting around that. His skillful use with the shield was something else, too. She'd always seen them as dull and clanking, but now she saw their uses.
"You're getting better at single combat," Impa gently praised Link as he wiped the sweat out of his eyes, "but I want to see how you fair with teamwork." She grinned. "You and Ashei against myself." Ashei raised one eyebrow and grinned. "Really, Impa? You think you could take the both of us?" Link scowled. "Ashei! This is a training exercise!"
She blushed, startled that she'd even let the words out of her mouth, but Impa waved them away. "Link is right, Ashei. It's not about whether I think I can take you, but how I am using the time I have to train you. Don't forget that thoughts like those can lead you down a darker path; resist them!"
Ashei nodded, and when Impa was certain that she'd regained control of herself, she called out the time. "All right, two minutes! Now begin!"
Link held back and let Ashei attack first, since she was faster. Ashei ran out of combo time, and Link saved her by blocking Impa's retaliation with his shield. He timed a strike, and it hit squarely across her chest plate. But the timer was still going, and Link knew in the back of his mind that two minutes was a long time on the battlefield.
Anakin and Obi-Wan had been training as well, but were now sitting atop the corral Link and Ashei were fighting against Impa in, gratefully sipping the chilled milk one of the villagers had offered them to help cool off.
"He's pretty good with that sword, isn't he?" Anakin observed as he watched Link fight. "And Ashei's not half-bad either, though."
Obi-Wan nodded. "She's better with her bow, but she's good with the blade as well. As for Link, his talent is natural. All he needed was a little refinement and tips for little mistakes. Now the blade in his hands is merely and extension of his own arm…" Anakin sighed. "I wish I had that natural talent with a sword… maybe if it were just like the way I fly I might be good enough to beat you." Obi-Wan shot him a look.
"I think, Padawan, if your natural talent with the blade were anything like your flying, you would not only beat me, but slice me into chunks of Jedi jerky." He chuckled. "But you did do very well today, trust me."
Anakin smiled, and Obi-Wan saw that he was honestly grateful for the compliment. Perhaps what Link had said to him earlier that morning wasn't quite so unfounded. "What about that sword Link has? Apparently it's something special." Obi-Wan nodded, but something about the Master Sword reminded him of something he couldn't put a name to…
"It behaves like a Force-imbued weapon like the white sword Ashei uses, yet it glows with an inner light that Ashei's sword does not. It almost behaves like a lightsaber in that respect, even though it isn't one. It's quite something indeed… oh?" Obi-Wan and Anakin sat up, noticing a critical point in the fight. Ashei had tripped and fallen onto the ground, Link angry because the move Impa had used had been uncalled for. He was readying his blade for something big, but Ashei called out to stop him.
"No, Link! Wait!" Link looked back. "Why? She–" "Jump backwards!"
Link caught sight of Impa's next move and did as Ashei asked, jumping backwards and readying himself for another command. Maybe, if he flung something at her, like a piece of dirt, she'd be distracted?
Fling something! Anything! Ashei's voice called out in his mind.
The command was Force-driven, spurring a spike of that internal calm inside himself, properly realigning his sense of right and wrong. He cast out with the Force, picking up a rock and flinging it just past Impa's head so that her reflexes would have no choice but to pull her to it for the briefest of moments. Then he threw his shield at her, forcing her body to thud against the fence, and he leapt over Ashei in a single bound, holding the point of the Master Sword at Impa's throat just at the timer rang.
Impa grinned. "Very… well done," she said between breaths. "If you had not listened to Ashei, you would have lost." Link nodded, sheathing the Master Sword and picking up his shield. "Yes... I probably would have. And, I'm a little surprised that we were both thinking along the same lines at the end…"
"Where I told you to fling something at her?" Ashei asked. Link nodded. "Yes, exactly. I'd been thinking of doing the same thing before you told me to actually do it." Impa nodded.
"Well, sometimes the best fighting partners are the ones who follow the same game plan without even needing to talk about it. Wonderful collaboration, you two! Now, come here. I want to give you two something." She waved to two of the villagers, one who brought her a stool and the other who brought her a wooden box.
"Ashei first. Sit." Ashei saw the box, and her mouth dropped open. "No way… you really want to give me one?" Impa smiled. "A set actually. They were one of your mother's sets." Ashei blinked; suddenly tears began to prick her eyes as she sat down.
"You knew… my mother." Impa nodded and she pulled a small needle out of the box. "Yes, I did. She was one of the finest Sheikah I've ever had the pleasure of working with. She was very strong, like you. And so charismatic! She didn't need her pretty face to enchant your father at all! Just her voice…" Impa laughed softly. "I kind of wish he didn't have to die the way he did…"
Ashei was silent, not even whimpering when the needlepoint pierced each ear and healed it over just enough to leave a break for the emerald studs that Impa took from the box and placed in each ear.
"There. You're done. Link! Come here!"
Ashei nodded to Link and assured him it was nothing, so he walked over and sat down as Impa took another needle. "Now, I know you're not a Sheikah, but…"
"Ouch!" Link hissed softly when the second needle passed though his earlobe. Impa smiled at him. "Well, these are given to young Sheikah men when they become adults." She fastened two sapphire hoops, one in each ear, through the holes and stood back. "You've become a great warrior. I felt you deserved to have them."
Link felt the full weight of the responsibility of what earrings meant when Impa said those words. He gulped quietly as he nodded and Impa waved him away. "Now go. The temples are waiting." Then she hopped the fence and headed back into town. "Hey, I never said…" He shook his head. "Never mind."
The four of the suited up again and began the trek out of town. However, someone was watching them from the shadows of the alleys, not sure whether they should approach or not. Then, they remembered why they were there in the first place, and all fears dissipated.
"Hey, wait!"
They turned, and Link was surprised to actually recognize the person who had called for them to stop.
"Romani?"
The young man with the shoulder-length black hair and blue eyes skidded to a halt. "What? Oh… Link?" He seemed distressed, and his general appearance was quite disheveled. "Link, it's good that I've found you! I need you help!" Link frowned. "With what? Why aren't you at Lon Lon Ranch?"
Romani shook his head. "That's precisely why I need your help! Ingo threw my father out of the ranch two years after the Evil King came to power, and I only kept my position there by proving that I was useful to him." Link frowned. "Where is he now? Talon, I mean." Romani pointed to one of the houses behind him. "A woman in town has been looking after him since he came here. He's all right, but he's... well." Romani sighed. "That ranch is everything to him. Anyway, I looked after Malon to make sure that he didn't hurt her, because the way he looks at her…" He shuddered once before continuing. "He didn't used to do that in the beginning, but recently, he'd been mistreating the horses more than usual, and grabbing Malon and tying her up in ropes whenever she didn't complete a chore the way he'd told her to and... I just couldn't stand it anymore, so…" Romani sighed, exasperated, and growled softly under his breath.
"You were thrown out, too." Link finished. Romani nodded.
"I need you to help me… or at least Malon. She's strong, but I don't know how long she can last." Link glanced back at his companions. "Well?" Ashei nodded sharply. "At least for the girl. I met you once, I think, on a Market Day before the King was murdered. She had red hair, right?" Romani nodded. "And she's really sweet… too sweet. She'll get hurt."
Link put and hand on Romani's shoulder. "Come on. It's at least a two hours' walk so we should hurry if we want to get there before noon."
Though it was a two hours' walk as Link had said, the group preferred to run instead, though for the first half of the trip it was mostly just the drive to get out of the forest before they encountered another Moblin. Finally, just half an hour before the sun would reach its highest point, they reached the ranch. It was a lot quieter than Link remembered, and less welcoming. Romani slipped over to the door that led into the barn, and he motioned for everyone else to follow. Inside Malon sat with her back to the door, lying on a patch of straw with her face in her hands.
"I've done what you asked, Mister Ingo, sir…" she whispered quietly, "I can do it over if it's not to your liking, sir, please… just don't hurt me."
"No, Malon," Romani whispered, "It's me! I've come to help you!" She turned, gasping. "Romani! You shouldn't be here! Ingo will kill you if he sees you here!" Romani shook his head. "Shh! It's all right!" He grinned softly. "I brought friends." He looked back at the others, and by now Navi had floated out of Link's hat and was now fluttering around his head.
"Fairy boy!" Malon called quietly, smiling brightly.
Link grimaced. "I think I almost prefer 'Hero,'" he muttered. Ashei giggled. "'Fairy boy'?" Link pointed up at Navi, who began to glow a soft, blushing pink. Ashei did her best to hold in her laughter. Romani smiled, but looked sharply up at Link. "Hey, I've got to free Malon from her chains." He gestured to the chains they hadn't seen coming in. Obi-Wan swore.
"Kriff, it's Cortosis… one of the only metals that is resistant to lightsabers. And it's got water circulating through it, too." Romani nodded. "I can disable the water and eventually pick the lock, but it'll take some time. I need you to distract Ingo and keep him from entering the stables, all right?" Link nodded.
"That, I can do."
The four of them exited the barn quietly and entered the ranch corral. They found the badly (though expensively) dressed ranch thief standing in front of the gates, eyeing them suspiciously.
"Well, what do we have here? Customers?" Link nodded. "Something like that." Ingo laughed, a harsh, barking sound. "Well now… where are ya'll coming from?" Ashei frowned. "Kakariko. Why?" Ingo paused and quickly snarled in response. "Kakariko, huh? Well I'll tell you why: it's because there's a lot of rumors going about right now that cheated Talon out of this ranch!" He folded his arms and spat of to the side to display his distaste.
"What a ridiculous notion! That good-for-nothing Talon was weak! I, the hard-working Ingo,was the only one who actually did anything for this place!" Anakin and Obi-Wan exchanged looks as if to say, is this guy for real? They turned back to hear the rest of the guy's rant.
"I just don't want ya'll going out and spreading any more of that falsity!"
Ashei hummed quietly. "Oh, you can rest assured. We won't spread any rumors. We're better than folk than that, Mister Ingo."
Ingo grinned. "Well now, pretty lady... thanks for that. See, I was actually recognized by the great Ganondorf and given this ranch! So now I'm raising a fine horse just for him, to thank him for giving this ranch to me! Say, would any of ya'll like to ride one of these fine horses? Just pay 10 rupees for one minute! It's a steal!"
Sure, why not? Link paid the man 40 rupees, 10 for each of them, and Ingo let them in, closing the gates behind him. "All right! Pick any of the horses and just ride! Whoever's the best rider might even get a chance to race me!"
Everyone obediently scrambled for the nearby horses, but Link didn't want one of them. Maybe, that other horse… was she even still here?
And she was.
A brilliant russet colored horse stood on the other side of the field, grazing. Link wanted to run to her, but remembered the last time he'd been to the ranch, how she'd been afraid of him before he'd played her song. He fished for the Ocarina in his hat and pressed it to his lips, playing the tune quickly. Her ears twitched. She hadn't heard that music in a long time… she ran towards it, towards who was playing it, and she whinnied. It was him!
Link put the Ocarina away and held onto the horse tightly. She remembered him! And somehow, that made everything all right. He mounted her, sliding into the saddle as though he'd been there all his life, and urged her forward. The two of them ran circles around the others, and Link was left breathless from the sheer joy of it.
"Hey, you there!" Ingo barked. Link held his head up at attention. "Yes?"
Ingo grinned. "You're pretty good! How about running a race with me? One lap around the corral with that horse." Link raised one golden eyebrow.
"And… is that it?"
Ingo chuckled. "Well, of course not! I'd say a little wager is in order! How does fifty rupees sound?" Link held up a finger to signal for Ingo to wait. He checked his wallet (which he noticed had mysteriously become an adult wallet) and felt that he had enough. Something inside him desperately wanted to pry this horse from Ingo's clutches right away… and maybe this race was the way to do that.
"It's fine with me," he said quickly before any of his companions could answer for him. "Good!" he called. "Now come on over!" Ingo flashed a dark smile toward his friends.
"Your companions can stay in here while we race… hehe…"
Ingo mounted a horse after he locked the gate into the corral, and suddenly Link heard some terribly corny banjo music.
"What…?"
Ingo grinned and held up a small radio. "It helps set the mood. Now," he pressed the play button, "here we go!"
Link beat him easily. Even though the guy was an obvious cheat, his horse was scared of him, and didn't help that Epona was faster. So when they stood face to face after the dismount, Ingo stood there wailing and tugging at his hair like he'd just lost the bet of his life.
"Shoot! If the great Ganondorf found out about this humiliation… hey! Hey you! How about another race? If you win… y-you can keep… the horse!"
Link blinked at him, unfazed. "Sure."
This time around, Ingo seemed to have more of a handle on himself and his horse. Of course, he still cheated and began the race even before it started, but Epona was still faster than Ingo's horse, and Link was perfectly at home in the saddle, hugging the walls of the corral and turning the corners on a dime like an expert horseman. He grinned outright when he heard Ingo curse behind him as the goal came in sight: he was too far behind.
"So… Ingo? The horse is mine, right?" Link said brightly.
Ingo snarled. "Bah! What's up with that horse? Is that Epona? How did you tame that wild horse right under my nose?" Anakin scoffed. "Uh, maybe you're just not very good?" Ashei thwacked him upside his head. "Hey, he may be a cheat, but you should be nice to that cheat! In case you hadn't noticed, we're still locked inside the corral!"
She pointed to the lock. "And that lock is made of that same, ah… that stuff! Your lightsabers won't work on that!"
Ingo laughed as he stood on the other side of the little gate that blocked the way back to the barn and the farmhouse. "And that's where you're gonna stay! See, I'm an honorable man, so as promised, I'll still give that horse to you! However… I'll never let you leave this ranch!" He said haughtily.
Link and Epona exchanged glances.
What? Is this guy stupid?
I think so, yes.
They were about to charge the fence and jump over it to knock Ingo out and frisk him for his keys, but apparently someone beat them to it.
THWACK! CLANG!
It was Malon. Freed from her bonds and wielding a pitchfork like a bat, she hit Ingo right upside the head, knocking something from his ear. She beat him again for good measure, just to make sure he was unconscious, then she finally handed Romani the pitchfork and took Ingo's set of keys to let herself back into the ranch and to free Link's friends.
"Hey Malon!" Link called. She returned the sentiment and gave him a sisterly hug. "It's really good to see you, Link." He raised an eyebrow, "No 'fairy boy' comment this time?" She smiled and shook her head.
"No. I think the time for that has passed." Link nodded as she went to go free his friends. Then he spotted the thing that had been flung from Ingo's ear and picked it up. He nearly dropped it in disgust; there was black magic all over it. He threw it at the dirt and torched it with Din's Fire. Ashei came over when she saw the flames saying, "Hey, what did the dirt do to you?"
Link just shook his head. Ashei frowned, but trusted him enough not to ask what had upset him.
Once the four of them were back together again after Malon and Romani had treated them to a meal (Ingo had woken up with no memory of what he'd been doing for the last year or so and was now heading for Kakariko to find Talon and apologize), Romani asked after where they were going.
"The forest," said Link carefully. "There's someone there that I need to find."
Romani saw the wariness and Link's eyes and nodded. It was best that he didn't say anything. "Well," said Malon as they were heading out the door, "don't forget that you're always welcome to stay here or borrow the horses!" She winked at Link. "Epona will miss you!" Link smiled back at her. "I'll come back soon! I promise! Just take care of her for me, won't you?"
"I will!"
And so the four of them, Link, Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ashei, were headed off in the direction of the Lost Woods and the long-lost fabled Forest Temple of the great and mysterious Sacred Meadow.
Ahh… I'm done. Now I can go do homework. Well, this was a special thing, since it was Labor Day weekend and all. Most updates will only happen about every two or three weeks. But I hope you enjoyed this and next chapter we'll have them fighting the very first adult temple! Yay!
Okay, shoo. Go click the little button and write some nice words. Or some not so nice words. Any words would be good. Seriously, PLEASE? XD
