A/N: Ha! Damned computer thought it could outdo me with its file corrupting, eh? Well, I had two back ups to make sure nothing went wrong. In three different formats (.html, .txt, .doc). It shan't fail that way. Great idea that though… once done, delete the .doc and .html and keep the compressed .txt. Thanks for caring. I feel loved.
Chapter 27: Fire Lily
The drifting wind brought voices. Muted screams, soft groans and muffled moans. People of the dead, calling out at the injustice that took their lives. People of the living, yelling themselves hoarse to block out the calls, the wails. No one cared before. Everyone screamed now.
"He was to save us, to help us. He tried to, intended to. He did not. Save him. Save us."
Leaves frail from the lack of nutrients ripped free of their branches, crumbling in the breeze to scatter their dried remains across the parched earth. Green denied him. Red welcomed all. Black summoned life.
They clung on to life. Masons and crafters, they all pooled together to build the final frontier against those who approached. A fortress of the condemned built to hold out an army of the damned. They were to die, but oh they wanted to live.
"He knew his mistakes. He learnt from them. But he didn't change them. Why didn't he save us? He left us to die! He leads us to death! He wouldn't change them. Save him. Save us."
The world pulsed. The earth trembled. Soil slithering away, the crevassed gaped in frightened awe to reveal arms. The arms of the dead clawed their way up, bodies lurching out of their graves. The world pulsed. There were thousands of them, an indestructible army numbering greater than the living.
"He went on a journey to right his wrongs. A pilgrimage to cleanse the evils he brought with him. Instead he found more. Save him. Save us."
The castle cascaded with colour. Whites peeled off to reveal the throbbing purples beneath. Reds dissolved away to expose the greens that snaked their way underneath. The people intended to defend themselves with steel and fire. He knew that neither would work.
The dead did not care to approach. They had orders not to. Wait, and strangle, and starve. Their numbers will flourish with the numbers that died. They will not commence the siege. Someone else – something else will do it for them. Their job was to scream the anguishes of man, and drive the living mad. And when the walls break and doors shatter, to charge in. Not all had weapons. Not all needed them.
"He tried. He tried too hard to save us, serve us. He needed power to undo the wrongs. He found power, but eventually it went to a different purpose. Save him. Save us."
The shadows blurred, morphing and twisting. He knew what they were trying to do. He knew what they were trying to become. He fought them. He hated them. Dark Copies.
They surged from the crevasses and bluffs of the field, claws and blades extended. By the sheer weight of numbers they intended to break the defence – they cost nothing, so why not? The colours on the wall jarred from one shade to another, contact setting the Dark Copies into black smoke. So. Someone inside was using magic. He knew one person was not enough.
A man stood behind the crying dead, smiling underneath his black hood. He knew the man: a friend, a foe. Once he wore green, and now he wore black. Even his blade – that wretched thing! – from the blood it drank and souls it consumed hummed with a dark light. The Odyssey Blade. The Reaper's Fist.
"Feral. Despair. Fury. Sorrow. Fear. Entice. They were there for the moulding, and under a different master he moulded them. He doesn't serve our Deities, and yet he doesn't serve theirs. Save him. Save us."
A giant juggled a sword among his four arms. A gangly man held his sword limply, choosing to stare at the dead, lips twitching. A demon stood behind Him, conferring silently and gesturing with his blade. A being cloaked in a steel robe mocked the gangly man. A Shade that faded in and out of existence grinned quietly at the rest. A weaver sighed as her work was absorbed into the earth, frowning petulantly. Some had once fought him; some had once tried to manipulate him. They now all served under him as he served under a different purpose.
"The evils of man incarnate. You cannot face them. They cannot disobey him, yet he cannot lead them. The Gods had wrestled for mastering the destiny of men. Our Goddesses lost this time. Save him. Save us."
The defenders fired arrow after arrow, prickling the surge of darkness beneath with lighted tips. They had ran out of enchanted wards. The magic crawling on the walls was crumbling away. The Dark Copies pulled back, snarling in their silent roars before charging one more time. The magic shattered.
"Yet those who fight fate do not always win. Save him. Save us."
The dead reigned supreme.
-S-
Malik bolted awake, sweat-drenched blankets set flying. Irritably he shook his head to juggle the dream out. It didn't work as so much as to confirm it instead. Sighing, he flopped back into the puddle on top of his pillow, sprinkling a fine drizzle everywhere.
Damned dreams. Sometimes he had the feeling they came as a package along with the emotion magic he learnt. That was preposterous though – he never had them before. The first time he had them was… well, he forgot the first time. But they always revolved around Link.
Damned dreams.
-S-
If it were under different occasions, Link would have taken the time to marvel the wonders of the Lost Woods. If it were under different circumstances, Link wouldn't have taken the time to deliberately get lost. Getting lost was ideally meant to be a mistake, but once intentional…
Well, Navi was going to be his back-up in case he really did get lost. Sitting on top of a leaf in his Deku form, his present idea was just to meander around until he met another Deku Scrub, preferably a nice one or a salesman.
Nabooru was meant to arrive yesterday, but due to some complexities she arrived just a few hours ago. One glance at Reza told her all she needed: Reza's soul was a shattered wreck. What Link did with the spiritual magic was shred it into fine little pieces and scatter them to the furthest corners of her body. Thankfully whatever he did later manage to assemble them back together, tiny fragments attracting each other to rebuild it.
The problem was how they were rebuilding themselves. The correct parts attracted each other, but were still too small to attract more parts. When Link sent pulses of his own magic in and out to save the parts, it was like sloppily using high power glue to stick fragments of a vase together, but all the pieces in the wrong place. Nabooru even worried he might have missed a few chunks.
"I can't help her in this state," Nabooru had said, "Connecting with souls and spirits require the spirit to be intact, in the first place. The best shot I could try is to touch the parts which have moulded together properly and shift them to their proper positions."
That off course wasn't as easy as her just sitting opposite Reza. Rather, it required a special incense to improve spiritual communication. That incense had only been found from those very lucky few that survived entering the Lost Woods, and they didn't know where the heck they found it.
They called it the fire lily, and appropriately so. Break the wrong stem, it'll catch on fire. Its defensive puff of juices was propelled at high pressure, effectively becoming a growing screen of fire. It spread its seed in an almighty explosion, reducing the nearby plants to ash so its next generation will have rich soils to live off. Nabooru needed it in one piece though, and somehow she intended to dry it and grind it down for her incense.
"I think we need to find a different strategy," Navi yawned, body sagging against her leaf, "Deku Scrubs aren't really the walking kind of species. If you want to find them, you go to them. You've wasted an hour already sitting on that damned plant." A pity the plant wasn't a fire lily. Then again, thank the heavens it wasn't. Deku Scrubs burn messily.
"I guess so," Link said reluctantly, hopping off. He found it slightly irritating how his voice went small and squeaky in this form, and the first time Navi heard it she laughed her head off. Well, the Goron form had a deeper voice, and the Zora form came with its special own accent and slurring. "But where off to?"
Navi rolled her eyes exasperatedly. "I don't know! Your idea was to get lost and find a Deku Scrub, wasn't it? Any direction will do!"
It was a pretty stupid question, Link admitted to himself. Closing his eyes and walking backwards, he concluded that it was a pretty stupid idea in the first place. When he communicated with Saria, she said that the Kokiri usually found pressed versions of the fire lily from the wild fairies that got them from the Skull Kids, who in turn found them from the Deku Salesmen. So his best bet was to ask a Deku Scrub where he could find a fire lily.
Walking backwards with eyes closed proved to be another stupid decision, for it was not a flower he found first. Navi's surprised cry warned him, and instinctively he dropped to hug the ground. Just in time, for the mandibles of a Wolfos flew by where his head would have been.
"You buffoon! You absolute imbecile! You dope-headed ignorant moron!" Navi yelled expletives at Link while he kept spinning away from the Wolfos' leaps. In his human form, he would have been able to tackle it for sure, but given how close it was he didn't think he had time to pull off the mask and regain his composure from the pain that came along.
"I'd thank you for the insight, Navi," Link piped out – oh how he hated this voice – managing to clip the edge of its nose with his spin, "but right now I'd prefer a bit more productive help!" He briefly remembered Navi telling him before that Wolfos usually travelled in pairs. Link banished the thought quickly.
The Wolfos wasn't too happy about his fluke hit, and its bright red eyes shown with frenzied anger. Grimly it snarled, saliva flying free from its choppy attempt to snap at his head. While moving in a pirouette made Link move faster, it came with the side effect that he could not keep his eyes always on the Wolfos, and seeing it spin back into sight kept his stomach constantly queasy.
Link had suffered worse than just one Wolfos before, so Navi was pretty lax in finding a way to help him. She even took the time to laugh at how he was leading it in the same circle. Nonetheless, a guardian fairy's duty was to make sure her partner didn't get mauled to itty-bitty bits of mangled wood. Scanning the nearby foliage, she smiled in approval. That should do.
From previous conditioning she flapped her wings experimentally first before dive-bombing straight between the Wolfos' eyes. Air coalescing as a barrier around her speeding form, she reared her fist in preparation for the impact. The other fairies called her too violent, but she found it was the best way to grab anyone's attention.
As expected it managed to do that perfectly, Navi's flash on collision coupled with her fist hammering away bringing the Wolfos to try and take snags at her. Flittering deftly above its reach would only distract it until it realised Link would be an easier target. "You can change now."
The barely suppressed grunt told her he already done it, and when the Wolfos turned back to Link he was already there, hookshot in hand.
Staring at each other the Wolfos and Link slowly encircled each other, Link thumbing the contraption that would release the chain. Strangely enough he wore a slight smile, although his eyes were slightly glazed in thought.
The Wolfos took that chance to vault forward, jaws homing towards his neck. The thoughtful glaze disappeared as did the smile as Link ducked under, hooking its belly with a raised foot. Before it could scuttle back he grappled its neck, trying to pin its position by constricting its air supply.
The Wolfos flailed, front legs twisting in an imitation of arms to rend Link off. Before it managed to lay its claws on his back Link slammed the hookshot underneath where its chin would be and pressed the trigger. The messy squelch as steel ripped through brains and bone heralded the end of the fight.
Navi shuddered at the fountain of gore spewing from between its ears. "Couldn't you have found a less messy way of killing it?" She said, her face turning a little green. "That's… that's not a pretty display."
Link waited for the muscles to go limp before disengaging himself from the corpse. He frowned at the blotches of blood layering his left hand, shaking his head. "I actually intended to just stab its heart, but the thing moves too fast for me to be sure that's what I'll hit." He explained, gesturing with the hookshot at the dead body. "Me pinning it was to stop it from moving, and from then the brain was the closest option."
Navi still couldn't help shuddering. "Yeah, well, thanks to you I don't think I can look at another wolf the same way again. Brains flying and blood erupting… eargh." Wisely she chose to look up into the sky, attempting to ignore the hole in the Wolfos' head.
Link plucked her out of the air to place her on his shoulder and resumed walking. The bloodstained hookshot bobbed rhythmically on his belt as he strode. He murmured to Navi as he walked.
"I really need a sword. I think the first thing I'm going to do before I enchant anything is make a plain old basic sword. That strange ghost that sent us to the Master Quest," he paused to frown sourly, "taught me quite a bit. I think I said it before, but using obsidian will give me a killer edge. The trick I'm trying to find is how to attach that to steel without it falling out. And finding some obsidian, as well."
Amazingly enough his voice didn't call up more creatures to attack him, and he continued rambling about blades. "The sword really depends on what I want to do with it. Kill, naturally, otherwise why make a sword? Although I've just had the most brilliant idea of making a sword that's not meant to kill. Don't give me that look, but it's a self-defensive blade. I'll give it a shape so that when the user swings with it, it'll push the opponent back more than slash him open."
Navi really didn't care about weapons that much, but Link seemed to be too caught up in his fascinations and ideas. The ghost that sent them to the Master Quest had also dumped her brain with knowledge, but not something she would have liked to know. There were weapons more deadly than steel could ever achieve to be, and she wished she didn't know where they were, how to use them, how to massacre armies with them. Whoever made them deserved to never been born.
"… The main trick will be cutting, I say. Most of my attacks are slashes, and stabs come to think of it. I'll only need one edge, and maybe a bit of curve – I don't stab much, and my spin attack would benefit from it…"
"Hey Link," Navi called out.
"… Shock absorption requires something soft. A soft core, or a soft back, what do you think I should pick? I'm thinking about putting little wires inside so they can vibrate to dissipate the energy from blocking, but where to find space to put those…"
"Link! Stop! Hey! Are you even listening?" Navi said louder.
"… Length of blade is a key issue. A long blade means I can poke and slash away from a safe distance, but reduces control over the point. I think I'll just stick to the good old measurement of from left wrist to right shoulder…"
"LINK, STOP!" She shouted into his ear.
Blinking in surprise, he stopped and glanced at her. "What, what is it?"
"You've found your Deku Scrubs."
Preoccupied in his thoughts he was surprised to see indeed she was right. Chatting away, he didn't watch where his feet brought him. There weren't any tunnels in sight anymore, just lightly dense clusters of trees and thick foliage. Small trickles of light managed to wriggle past the canopies though, and where they landed flowers of all kinds bloomed.
The said Deku Scrubs weren't exactly keen to see him. Sitting in the relative safety of their flowers, they stared at him suspiciously, ready to drop back into their protective blossoms. Organised into a crescent shape facing him, if he dared threaten them they should be able to deliver maximum payload against him.
Smiling broadly, Link surreptitiously remembered them and their positions before walking away, whistling. Navi stared at him in confusion as he waltzed off to hide behind a growth of trees. A cracking sound and a yell from him came forth, and after a few minutes Deku Link waddled back out, whistling the same tune as before. Navi slapped her head and moaned – no one would believe that those two were different.
Amazingly though, the Deku Scrubs did buy it. Upon seeing the strange boy depart and a little Deku child approach, they dropped their wariness to wave the kid over. It was all Navi could do to not stare too hard.
"Where are you going, child? It's not safe to travel alone, you know." The largest Deku Scrub asked kindly. "You have nasty creatures and their like. Why, just now the most bizarre Hylian walked past! Those are the most dangerous."
Another nodded solemnly in agreement. "The Lost Woods doesn't seem to be giving us much protection lately. The only reason we don't leave is that its still the best place for food and shelter." His disgruntled swaying gave his opinion on that.
"My mama wants me to find a fire lily," Link improvised in the cutest voice he could achieve. "Do you know where I can find one?"
The third Deku Scrub looked at him oddly. "Why find such a dangerous plant, child? You could suffer burns, or worse!"
A fourth Deku Scrub looked like it would have slapped the third. "You don't think!" she said angrily. "Don't you remember what we Scrubs need a fire lily for? This poor child needs its medicine for his family!"
Immediately pity filled the eyes of all present Deku Scrubs as they offered their warmest condolences to Link. Playing as the confused child he nodded hesitantly, asking 'what's wrong with mama'.
One deemed it too cruel to tell what ailment a fire lily could cure, and instead guided Link's gaze off to a distance. "There's a patch of fire lilies growing in that direction, three hundred odd paces away. Look for two big stones next to each other; the fire lilies should be close around there." He waited for Link to nod before continuing. "Now you better be careful there. The fire lilies catch fire very easily if handled improperly, and on the ground is a lot of pale yellow liquid that spreads the fire even better." A lot of the Deku Scrubs grimaces at that. "Take the plant gently by the roots, carefully scrape the soil and liquid away. You should then gently pick it up by the base and don't jolt it too much when carrying it back home." He waited for Link to nod again.
Another Deku Scrub sighed. "I myself would go along to help you, but the more Scrubs there are there the higher the chances something will go wrong. A fire lily shouldn't be too hard to spot: red petals and eight petals to each flower. The stem is very pale green, almost translucent. I wish you well, little child."
Link thanked them all before toddling off in the given direction. Taking a while to shake off her bewilderment Navi followed soon afterwards. When they were out of sight Link changed back into his human form.
"I," he declared, "am the greatest actor alive."
Navi snorted. "Don't bloat your ego too much. You only said four lines. They probably believed you because they didn't know the magic to change form existed, nothing to do with acting."
Link shrugged. "Who cares? We know where to go now at least. Let's get this over and done with."
The two big stones to the Deku Scrubs were really just waist height for Link. Standing on top of one of the stones, he peered around to see where the fire lilies were.
When Navi went close to examine the pale yellow liquid dribbling its way across the hard ground, she took a sniff before backing away. Miniature lakes of the liquid had gathered to a side, and the small streams that supplied it followed off towards the fire lilies.
"Most interesting," she muttered to herself, "I think that this stuff is oil. How it can come directly from a plant, I can only wonder."
Link flicked out a bottle to collect some of the oil from the pool. Thinking about it, he pulled out his other three and emptying one of its milk content filled them all with oil. "Some people might be interested in this stuff. I think I should collect more of the plants as well."
Carefully he kneeled down and used his fingers to brush away the soil from a plant's roots. "And how, pray tell, are you going to carry them all?" Navi drawled. "Delicate care, the Deku Scrubs said. You can't do that holding three in each hand."
Link nodded. "That's true. I'm just going to drop them into my bomb bag. It's meant to be fire resilient and water proof, so nothing should go wrong. Just give me a few minutes and we can whisk out of here and presto, instant Reza cure."
Navi could think of one. "A ha… well, one thing can. I forgot how we got here."
-S-
Malik was thumbing the rosary in his hand, trying to remember how Link did his special trick with it. With amazing speed he managed to break the rosary, send a bead flying and mend it before anyone noticed a bead was loose. Link said that it was just a magic trick, it was actually a rosary and a separate bead pulled out of his sleeves, but Malik was pretty sure he was trying to cover up his special speed trick.
Link wouldn't even tell him how to achieve his special speed trick. When asked, he would mutter about near-deaf experiences, brighten when he realised Link was there and with a wide swagger and jumping eyebrows say that everyone had their special tricks and leave it at that.
At least he taught Malik his Web of Strings trick. Well, not teach it – explain the basis of the trick and how left it to Malik to figure out how to turn that into a technique. From what he could remember in the Kokiri Forest, Link wasn't a very good teacher.
"Think about folding clothes," Link had tried to explain, "if you just stuff it into a bag, you'll fit less clothes. But if you do compress it, you can squeeze in that extra space. Now think of that bag as a paper bag. When it is full, it bulges, and when it's empty it's slim. When it's slim you can fold that too. The trick is to imagine the full bag is slim and fold it. From there, you do that again, putting more imaginary slim bags into a bigger bag and fold it. It's limited by how much mana you want to devote to this trick though." When asked what he meant by pretend a fat bag is small, his answer wasn't helping any. "Up close, a bag is a bag. In a distance, a bag is a dot. If you want to peer at the individual fibres making up a bag, your field of vision can't even hold a single bag. From a distance though, how many of those dots do you think you can squeeze into what you can see?"
Like that helped. How do you go off pretending something is big by leaving it far, far behind and stating it is small? The idea shouldn't work, and yet with Link it did. So Malik was sure it was doable. Link said it was easier if you stored flexible stuff like string and bandages.
Malik sighed, giving up on trying to pull apart and analyse Link's technique. With magic, common sense fell through the roof. And most likely fell up. Pocketing the rosary, he chose to enjoy the scenery from above the windmill.
The citizens of Kakariko were in a mess right now. Given the reason, he expected those in Castletown to be in the same state. No matter how hard a king tries or a retainer tries to keep quiet, rumours fly. And when in the middle of the night the Sheikah army and the Hylian procession leaves and return battered and some missing, people jumped to conclusions. Very accurate conclusions.
The archery shop in both Kakariko Village and Castletown now had enough business for the owners to retire wealthy. People were now paranoid of shadows twisting into enemies, and thought that knowing how to shoot will save them. Those few that realised their own shadows might be as threatening tried to find someone to teach them how to use a sword. Malik guessed the Palace was getting more revenue with their sword tutoring.
Malik wasn't one to complain about that, though. So what if two in every three people walked around with a bow slung across their backs and a quiver of arrows on their hips? It's hardly worth mentioning how people jumped when shadows moved, drawing knives, swords or whatever sharp available, only to put them away when they realised it was just the clouds.
Malik didn't believe the Dark Copies could warp out of shadows. If they could do that, why march all the way across Hyrule Field when they could just suddenly appear in the Zora Domain? In fact, if they did have that trick no one would be safe, no matter how many people knew how to hold a sword without stabbing their feet.
He had a newfound respect for Link, watching the guards try and teach people how to swing a wooden sword around. When sitting on the fences, it was easy to laugh at how they moaned at their arms hurting or legs trembling, and grumbling as they walked away bruised and battered. When trying himself though, he could see where their opinions came from. It was best to just stick to his nice lightweight knives. How Link swung a steel version around without breaking sweat he had no idea.
Despite the new worries, life was still good. Perched on top of the windmill, people still did their usual tasks below; the carpenter brothers still whinged about the work they had to do, the shopkeepers still sold their wares of vegetables and meats, Anju still tried to feed her cuccos without getting too close. The breeze was pleasant, the sky bright and the plants healthy.
Which was not what Malik could say about Reza. Already a week had passed since the spirit energy blast incident, and she didn't seem to be in any better shape than before. The doctors managed to feed her with a drip down her vein, but aside from barely living she wasn't… living.
Nabooru had arrived yesterday, and her outlook on Reza's health hadn't been any easier. Link had left to hunt for the flower she needed, saying that he was best for the job because he was most familiar with the Lost Woods and they needed Malik to watch over Reza. Unfortunately, the moment Link had left the dozen odd Gerudo residing in Kakariko Village had taken residence in Impa's house, brought Reza up there as well and didn't want a child Sheikah to take care of her. So that just left him to watch people practice with their bows and swords and sit on top of windmills.
"Link hasn't returned yet," he said softly to himself, "been inside the Lost Woods for a night already. I wonder whether he's doing okay? Well, it'll be his fault for not taking me along. I demanded the right to follow as I please, but no, oh mighty Link had to get Nabooru to sit on me while he left." Come to think of it, he wasn't sure whether Link actually asked her to do it. He must have – Malik couldn't fathom anyone sitting on another person unless they were asked to. Crossing his arms underneath his head he lied back, kicking his feet dejectedly while staring at the sky.
"That one looks kind of like a duck," he thought aloud, "and above it is a tiny mongoose. A mongoose riding a duck. It might be a snake though. Who knows? Navi probably would. She could just fly up whenever she chose and do whatever she wanted. I wonder why she doesn't. I'd like to fly."
"Lying that close to the edge, you might instead have to find a way to enjoy falling." A woman's voice said behind him. Jumping up hurriedly, he might have actually fallen if not for a tanned hand darting out and pulling him back from the scruff of his neck. "What'd I tell you?" The voice clucked. Patting his clothes out irritably, he turned around to see Nabooru and her smirk.
"What're you doing up here? How'd you get up here? You had to have gone through the Sheikah Caverns to get here." Malik demanded, edging safely away from the side. Nabooru chose to peer around at the village beneath instead of answering.
"Wow, this is a pretty good view. Not as high as some areas in the Gerudo Fortress, but then again over there the most we have to see are sandbags and sand. It's a pity that you have to wait for the windmill blades to pass first. You know, back in the Desert someone's trying to harness the waterfall to generate energy – a continuous ventilation system, the idea is. Good luck to them."
Malik frowned. "You're not answering my questions."
Nabooru laughed. "My dear boy, whatever gave you that idea? I was just about to get around to them." Picking up a rosary bead he had left, she threw it so that it landed in a tree in the far distance. She laughed as the nearby people drew their blades when it rustled, and laughed harder when they warily approached it, staying clear of its swaying shadow.
"Well, yes, I entered your precious little cavern. It's your fault for leaving an entry behind the bookshelf in the house we're staying in. Now and then we pop in to see what's inside. Oh, don't look so scandalised, we've never been caught, and I've entered enough times to remember how to get up here.
"As for why I'm here, well, I thought you'd be happy to know Link returned. Half dead if I might say so myself," somehow she found that funny, "but he returned with the plant I needed. More than just the plant though, he carried around some of the finest furs I've ever seen. Just thought you might want to know and visit."
After a day and a half, finally! Malik wondered what took Link so long. Nodding, he followed behind Nabooru to Impa's house. She apparently wasn't lying about exploring the place; twice she met up with her fellow Gerudo and chatted for a brief minute before walking off. How could the Sheikah inside not notice them? They seemed to swarm the entire place! After counting the two she talked to, five she waved at and three that went around the corner they arrived in the house.
She wasn't lying about Link. Slouching in the chair, his bedraggled form was lazily nursing a cup of milk. His eyes were haggard, staring off in the distance, hair limp, and he didn't seem to want to spare the energy to close his mouth. And he was also resting his scuffed boots on top of what appeared to be the skin of a giant grey bear.
What the hell happened? That was what Malik wanted to say. "What the hell happened?" Coincidentally that was what he said. Navi was snoring away in Link's palm, her faint light illuminating the shadows on Link's face.
"Did you know that I can't use my warp songs in the Lost Woods?" Link said tiredly. "Navi concluded that the rampant energies flying around don't let it work. You have to be somewhere orderly like the Forest Temple or without much loose mana for them to work."
Malik shook his head.
"Did you also know that the Lost Woods is a great deal larger than I first thought? You might have gone in, you might have not, but first you have your tunnel systems. Then you have your maze of trees. Those stretch for at least ten kilometres. They even drone with mana as well, and that skews up any attempt at magic there."
Malik shook his head again.
"Did you know that the same fuzz of mana messes with Navi's navigational system? Heh, just noticed that. Navi. Gati. Onal. There must be two fairies named that. Anyway, aside from making her just as lost as I, it causes animals there to grow abnormally?" He gestured down to the giant bear at his feet.
"So what the hell happened? I got lost with no way to teleport my way out, and there were more even nastier than that trying to skin me. I would have taken their hides as well, except for that most were scaly. Given what I've gone through, I think I deserve to name them. This behemoth of a bear I'm calling Bubu. The oversized Dinolfos I'm calling Barney – oh Farore, how it tried to sing! Its self-defence must have been driving its predators mad with that song. The ten metre giant snake that jumped out of the forest floor I'm calling a blinking bugger of a bastard. It really was."
Nabooru chuckled. "It probably was a derivation of our desert snake. We call it a Gyz, but I like your name more. Shy massive things with nasty teeth, I'm impressed you still have all four limbs." Clapping him hard on the back, she turned back to the table where six red flowers were held in a vase. "Well, you managed to get the fire lilies, and a lot of its oil. That's what matters. I'm sure Reza would cook you a thank-you banquet – she's quite talented it that."
Link nodded tiredly. "Do you need any help?"
Nabooru raised an eyebrow at him. "In your state, you would be the one needing help. Standing, that is. Nah, the first thing I need to do is dry them out. Apparently without a source of water they dry quicker than most other plants, and you already helped do that. Just come back in three or so hours, and you can watch then." With a flick of her wrist the two Gerudo standing guard at the door stood and proceeded in carrying Link with his chair out. With a pointed glance Malik followed.
"Hah, I see they didn't give me my Bubu rug. You honestly don't know how hard it was to kill it. The Barney dinosaur must have been the most irritating." Link grumbled, raising his cup to drain the last drop of milk from it.
"How'd you defeat them?" Malik asked. Without a sword, Link must have found it very difficult. Malik wondered whether Link would be inclined to give sword lessons.
"Well, fighting the snake involved climbing up a tree, throwing rocks and shooting arrows. Until it started climbing the tree, that tactic worked pretty well. After that, it went down to boa wrestling. I was dragged through the dirt when it tried to dive down with me still attached. I eventually killed it when it tried to bite my leg off by crushing its skull with the Megaton hammer. The singing dinosaur involved plugging up my ears. It probably knew of that tactic, for it decided that if it can't deafen its opponent, it'd turn them colour blind. It and its splotches of pinks and purples and greens. Eh." Link shivered at the memory. "I had to club its head to mush too."
"What about the bear?"
"Ah, that was the usual standard fight. Circle one another, let the bear leap – truly monstrous, I tell you – block its claws and teeth, duck under, try and swipe at its heart, roll away if failed, and repeat. It took a few good hits to take it down. The fur was a trophy." Link seemed proud of that.
Malik nodded. "I see. So, what are you going to do next, when Reza's better?" Hopefully teach Malik his special speed trick. Near deaf experiences indeed!
Link turned his gaze to Death Mountain. "I, for one, am going to make a sword. Two swords, in fact. One Second Seal, one good old sharp and useful." Link mumbled something that sounded like he better get it right.
"If you can make two swords, it wouldn't be any different from making three, right?" Malik asked slowly, an idea coming to mind. This idea will benefit Link's pocket, benefit the citizens of Kakariko and most importantly satiate Malik's desire to spite Link. It was his fault for releasing that stupid blast of spirit magic.
"I guess so. Why, do you want one?"
"If you can make three, it's hardly any harder to make four, right?"
"Probably. Reza has her own pair of scimitars though."
"If you can make four, there should be no trouble making five, right?"
"… I think I see where you're getting at."
"If you can make five, there's no problem making six, right?"
"… Malik, what do you want?"
Malik smiled. "Think about it. Everyone nowadays is paranoid about their shadows jumping out and strangling them, and unless you learnt how to make a bow you can make a lot of money selling quality swords! And teaching them how to use it! That way when we get into fixes like the last time, we have more people ready and prepared to fight with us!"
Link shook his head. "I'm not a factory, you know. I can't mass-produce like what you're suggesting. It should really take five or so people to make one decent sword, and that takes days! I only go quicker with mana. Besides, do you really think they'll accept sword techniques from a boy?"
Malik shrugged. "They accepted that you fought off a wall of shadow monsters. That's enough for them. They will accept swords that have your quality assurance, and your training. What's there not to like about this?"
Link shrugged. "I don't know. It takes too long, that's what. Let's suppose I can squeeze three swords out everyday. That means I'll spend at least three hundred days making swords for every able bodied man in this village. And then I will have to spend another four months to turn them into decent fighting forces. In that time, do you think Shakaku will stay still? It takes too much time for one thing, and I don't think there will be enough resources around to do what you're suggesting."
Malik frowned. "What about just the training? Or just the sword making?"
Link shook his head. "I can't be stuffed. If you want a fighting force, you train them to use spears and stick together. I don't know what goes into a spear well, and I don't want to be the one teaching people who swing around sharpened sticks. Too dangerous."
Given how Malik seemed to be looking up and tapping his foot, Link suspected he was trying to do something. "Will you make me a sword, then?"
"I guess so."
"And if I was to lose it on the day you give it to me, and paid you richly to make me a new one, will you do it?"
"Maybe."
"And if I lost that sword, and paid you the same amount if not more to make another one?"
"No."
"Why not?" Malik whined. "Aren't you driven by materialistic gains? Don't you like being rich?"
Link barked a laugh. Navi twitched in her sleep, and Link looked down apologetically before returning Malik's gaze. "I move around a lot. I probably spent a fifth of my life on a horse. So what if I have the world's fattest wallet? I can't use it then."
Malik was about to protest further, but Link waved it off. "Later. Right now, I want to catch some sleep. Running and fighting day and night tends to turn your brain to goo. And maybe get some food. Navi would like that." Yawning, he stumbled to his feet, and staggered off to find somewhere to sleep.
Malik sighed, grimacing at Link's back. He knew it wasn't Link's fault for making Reza what she was, after all no one knew it was going to do that. And yet he couldn't stop himself from blaming Link. Link for diving off like a madman, even if his spells were more effective than anything else. Link for even considering that spirit spell, even though it was his only source of magic left. Link for abandoning Malik to help Reza, even though it was to deal with Shakaku. Link for just being the damned hero Link was. He would forgive him the moment Reza got better, but until then Malik wanted to luxuriate in his spite.
Ah well, everything worked out for the better back then. Maybe it will now?
-S-
Nabooru wasn't one to complain, but she found waiting for the flowers to dry out the most boring endeavour she ever had the displeasure to do. When she was a wee kid and had to do sentry duty, at least she could admire the scenery, or play 'I Spy' with those with her, or gamble. Here, confined to the four walls that made up this room, she had played the child's game until there was not a single dust mote not speculated and searched over. There was no scenery beyond the bookshelves either. All there was to do was sit and watch the grass grow. Or the flowers dry.
Pausing, she tried to recollect how she rose in the ranks. Standard soldiers wore purple, and you went up the rainbow to hit the top level of red. Six ranks altogether: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Then you had white, the ultimate guard, awarded the rank for shown intellect, able body and honour to the forms. And black. The blacks were just called the blacks, because no name had been named for them.
Someone had suggested calling them assassins, but Nabooru shook that idea off immediately. True, being able to walk through walls and waltz around unseen made you the perfect murderer, but she did not cultivate the spiritual powers of some of her Gerudo to turn them to political killers. Her first idea had been to train them to be improved versions of scouts, able to pass undetected, spy on those who would dare challenge the Gerudo and return safely with messages and reports. The idea of making them a weapon crossed her mind a couple of times, but that was not to be their sole purpose. If they were made to kill, what would happen to them when the killing was done? Nabooru didn't know, and she hoped she wouldn't need to know.
How many did she have training to wear the black uniform? From the perspectives of others, it could hardly be called a uniform, much less clothing: the mana and concentration needed to pull and invert your body out of sight and existence was heavy, and made heavier by whatever you had to bring with you, so Nabooru had decided on making the uniform as light and little as possible. She had also contemplated on tattooing them with magical inscriptions that would allow them to last longer veiled – a slang term they made for being non-existent – and carry more clothes, and perhaps weaponry. Most of them didn't seem keen on the idea, surprising Nabooru.
Twenty of them had understood the principles, and could veil themselves. Sixteen could do that and move. Half that number could actually do anything more strenuous that walking. Only four had mastered going through walls, and veiling quickly and for longer. Forty-eight out of sixty students had gotten anywhere from a years worth of training. The remaining twelve had died trying. Not a good casualty rate.
Nabooru tried to steer her mind back to more happy topics, like how she used to goof off as a teenager. Teihra used to taunt her to enter the Haunted Wastelands, and she used to taunt her back. Back then, their best was five steps before they chickened out, got pummelled by the heavy winds and sand or got caught. Now, she could waltz through spinning with her eyes blindfolded to reach the Spirit Temple. Who would have thought her, general bubblehead, goofball and faithful to the King became the ringleader against Ganondorf and the two Witches, and the Spirit Sage? Teihra would have eaten her sword. Nabooru couldn't believe it either.
It was a true pity that they left on less than happy grounds. Deemed a spy, a turncoat, a traitor, she had been exiled from their lands for loving a Sheikah. She was despised, hated, and the few times she approached the gates she got spat at. Nabooru thought she would never have returned. And yet a year later when demons started swarming through Ganondorf's portal, she was the one who fought them back, her and her two headed glaive, and died in the attempt. Now she was a hero – even Ganondorf acknowledged that.
Nabooru remembered her saying something about a daughter. She wondered where the special girl could be, and how she was getting on in life. If her guess was right, she would be roughly 18 or 19. The hero's daughter wouldn't probably know what happened, or what her origins were. Nabooru doubted she would accept them if she was her.
With life, Nabooru concluded, you had to accept what happened. If you lived in a world of ruin, get tough and deal with it. If you didn't live very long, well there was no time left to worry. If a sixth of your special Gerudo team died in training, improve. If your best friend had died branded as a traitor, well… you'll find a way to live.
Nabooru sighed loudly, dropping her weight onto a wooden chair. It creaked from the sudden experience of force, but thankfully didn't buckle. Rocking slowly (and wincing at the sounds it made), she paused to consider her own personal motto.
I am stronger than the fires that test me.
There was a time when she had forsaken that. Kotake and Koume, those blasted Witches… when they took over her mind, there was no time for personal thought. Like a zombie she did what they told her to do, act like what they wanted her to, say what they needed her to. And when Link finally freed her, what did she do? Run. Or at least try to. Even that didn't work.
Oh, Link didn't know how much she owed him. As if giving him the spirit medallion made up for anything. The coin might have, but that resulted in more problems that Nabooru felt were partly her fault. They were all done under the name of duty – what Link did eventually was vital for his success, but he did it because it was the right thing to do.
"I am stronger than the fires that test me." Nabooru whispered softly to herself. She would be. She had to be. With what trials the Goddesses made them face, she needed to be.
"Did you say something?" Zephira at the door asked, twitching her muscles free from locking still. Rolling her shoulders made the two sheaths on her back clank against each other.
"Eh? Oh, nothing of mention. Just wondering whether putting the damned flowers over smoke will make them burn on us," Nabooru lied deftly, gesturing to the still lively plants. "My butt is going to grow stiff if I stay still."
Zephira chuckled and nodded, almost reluctantly returning to her position by the door. Given her grimace, Nabooru expected she couldn't feel her feet from standing there for three hours. Nabooru wouldn't be able to feel her spine if she had to herself.
-S-
Warm, fuzzy dream, full of fluff and cuddly things. That was what Navi was at present dreaming about. Of course, food interjected no and then. Her favourite in real life was orange ice cream, her least enjoyed tapioca pudding. In her dream, it was the other way round. In her dream, she walked around on her hands as well.
She and Link had entered the wonders of Marshmallow-Land, where the evil King Peanut ruled with a wrinkled fist. The poor marshmallow denizens had to suffer his tyranny and taxes of five cotton candies a week, and so it was up to her to save them. Link somehow got captured by the Popcorn guards, and she with her iron-strong stomach managed to eat away the menace. And then the people, which they weren't so happy about. But it didn't matter.
Through the portals in the Lost Woods they next went to Happy-Fairy-Land, where all the fey folk were happy. That unfortunately came from harvesting happiness off everyone else, so Link quickly became sad. Navi, being the courageous and noble fairy that she was, tried to strike a balance and give the human population their joy back. That dream ended with half the humans and fairies committing suicide though. She didn't like that dream much. She found it even worse when they were reincarnated as sheep, and potatoes were out to eat them. When they left, it was Unhappy-Sheep-Infested-Potato-Attacking-Mad-Sad-Land-that-was-Really-Underwater-so-Therefore-Not-Land. And that was just the abbreviated name.
Waking up from her dream of attacking toffee with a baton of chocolate, she found herself in the comforting blankets of Link's cap. Well, when it wasn't drenched with sweat, blood and dirt, it was comforting. It was comforting because Link had the strange superstition all Kokiri had that grime kept for too long will seep into your skin and the brain is the most vulnerable. Navi was pretty sure the fairies made that story up to keep them clean. It kept Link's hat generally clean.
He had taken it off to place on the wooden bedside table, and was at present lying face down on his small mattress with his left arm hanging off the bed. Navi rolled her eyes; someday he was going to suffocate himself like that. From the loud sounds that marked his breathing, he needed very strong lungs to pull the air through the pillow.
It was at times like these Navi had to marvel what Link was, what Link had become. The boy without a fairy, the Hero of Time, the saviour of Hyrule, Sworn Brother of the Gorons, Accepted of the Gerudo, Child of the Kokiri, Favoured of the Zora and Ally of the Sages: those were his titles, whether he knew it or not. Navi was pretty sure the Sheikah had thrown in something as well for cleansing the well and defeating Bongo Bongo, a dark beast that had haunted them for decades until Impa had sealed it away. And when Ganondorf granted its desire to be free, Link managed to free them from its revenge. They better give a title.
Although whether or not they did, Link didn't seem to care. Travelling around on Epona, giving a swagger and a smile to Malon when they passed, pretending to be humble in front of Zelda and seemingly trying to avoid the Zoras, titles meant very little to him. All he wanted was his little enjoyments of sleeping late, eating heavily and enjoying the earth and heavens.
And yet he seemed to believe it was his task of making what he called a Second Seal. Navi didn't know why he seemed to be trying so hard: no one was actually telling him to do it, and yet he tried as if the Goddesses spoke to him personally. Given the eccentricities that followed along with him, she wouldn't have been too surprised if they actually did. Imagine, suddenly coming up with the idea to dive into his body and merge to create a more potent being!
Navi herself didn't know where by the heavens that idea came from. In the fringe of desperation fighting the Dark Angels, a thought struck her. Given their magical composure, they should feel detrimental effects from light magic! And quite conveniently, a large make up of fey magic was light magic. The rest flowed into her mind.
It was a… strange experience, to say the least. Her body morphed and disappeared, leaving her mind flowing through Link's head. While he was in that form, she could see his thoughts, read his decisions and talk to his mind. Whatever he did she could not control, but she had the feeling that he could pass control over the body to her if need be. The prospect of mastering a body that pulsed with energy and literally hummed with its potency sent shivers down her spine. How could Link think straight above that song, whispering promises of infinite power? How could he let go? Probably because he could ignore them. How, Navi wanted to know.
Fluttering her wings gingerly, she unsteadily floated off to the window. Night seemed to be approaching, the sky undergoing the metamorphosis of dying its vast reaches red only to be consumed by darkness when the sun finally set. They had managed to find the way back early in the morning, meaning that Link must have warped over roughly in the afternoon. Why he wanted to keep the bear skin was beyond her: sure, it felt nice, but it didn't look nice and was definitely heavy. He would have been easy prey carrying that around. Except for that no one attacked him. Maybe he had been using its skin to ward off other potential conflicts, with its hulking size and smell of battle and blood.
If he did, he was certainly a lot smarter than she gave him credit for. Of course, no idiot could have figured answers in the middle of battle and solve the riddles the Temples challenge every entrée with, but she didn't think he was that smart. Most of his Temple answers seemed like a fluke. A lot of flukes. An accidental lean here, a tired sit there, a need for light now and then… a lot of flukes. Maybe they weren't flukes. The idea of a smart Link, a truly mind engaged and able to accelerate into overdrive in a flash Link, was strangely frightening.
Maybe it was a balance thing. Smart people tended to be frail and weak. Strong people tended to need more mental encouragement to think. That way no one could totally best another. And yet look at Link: strong enough to throw something four times his weight and smart enough to deceive others to think he wasn't as bright… truly frightening.
Looking at the sleeping sloth eased some of her pangs though. As disruptive as it might be to the balance of things, there was no reason to be afraid of Link. Unless some overly powerful force managed to dominate his mind, he would never harm anyone he believed innocent. And Navi doubted anyone would be able to do such a thing to him.
There was a game she once learnt in her travels. The Seven Gambits. It really involved in making the right decisions, or being sent into enslavement. Old myth said that it was a game the Goddesses had taught the Hylians to punish the foolhardy, and some part of that myth involved it being a celestial game in itself. Chess, go and checkers together combined wouldn't have covered the complexity behind the game. Failure was a truly heavy price to pay then, and many were fearful to learn how to play it.
This was just why Navi herself was daft enough to pick it up. The goal was to capture the opponents' Left Hand – the game involved playing against six other players, so a strange weave of hidden alliances and broken promises was involved – and keeping yours alive. Standing in the centre of the board, the Right Hand could exact punishment on any in direct line, but just as easily an opponent's Right Hand could harm it by yours just being there. The Gloved Fists could only attack other Gloved Fists, unless they stood in specific patterns where they could suffocate any piece, and the Iron Fists were strategic pieces that could be converted by being choked, but if that process took too long it would demolish the surrounding army. Seven different pieces. Seven players. Seven different rules.
She never played it, for she never found six other people willing to. This was a game of conquering the board, and then ultimately the players. It kind of reminded her of Link's predicament. Defeat the Dark Copies thrown against you, rally up your allies and hunt for the neck of those who sent them. If it had a neck.
"Hey Link," she said loudly, kicking his prone form, "is there anything of particular importance we're meant to do?"
"Hmm…"
"Nothing to do with the fire lilies? Or is that tomorrow?" Mentally Navi cursed herself for waking up early. Then she remembered her strange nightmare of a dream.
"Hmm…"
"Are you even listening? Do we really have a free remainder of the day?"
"Hmm…"
"Are you even awake?"
"Hmm…"
Just before she was to raise her arms in defeat and return to his cap for a nap, Malik barged in, calling out in his loudest voice about visiting Nabooru about Reza. Link snorted and rolled over at first, but he eventually got up, albeit sluggishly, and stumbled after Malik. Navi sighed; he forgot his hat. He must have been really tired from the Lost Woods: an entire night without sleep, fighting monsters and then carrying a heavy bear skin, trying to push out the vibes that throbbed around you… Navi wouldn't have blamed Link if he acted a bit cranky afterwards.
-S-
Who are you?
I am I. I am you, but you are not I.
Who are you?
I am me. You, you are not me. I am I.
Where are you?
I am in I. you are in I too. Why?
Where are you?
I am here. Why am I here? Why are you here?
I am help.
No. I need no help. I am I. I need no help about I.
I am help.
I am strong. I need no help. I am Gerudo. Gerudos never need help.
Gerudo Who are you?
I am Gerudo. I am a Gerudo. I am I. Why are you here?
Gerudo Who are you?
Who am I? I am a Gerudo. I am Reza. I am I.
Reza. I am help.
I need no help. Why? I am Reza. I am I.
Reza. I am help.
What happened? Why do I need help? I am I. I am strong.
You need help.
What happened? I am strong. I fight on.
You need help.
I fight on. I fought. I fight.
You fought. I am help.
I fought. I fight still. I am I.
You fought. I am help.
I am I. I am strong. I need no help. I fight on.
Fight. You fight help?
No. I need no help, but I do not fight help. I am I.
Fight. You fight help?
No. I am I. I fight on. I need help.
Let me help.
Why? Who are you? Where are you?
Let me help.
Help. I need help. Why?
You are broken.
I am I. I am nothing else. I am I.
You are broken.
I need help. I am I. Help me.
I am help. You need help. Let me help. I am help. I will help. I will help.
-S-
Reza jolted. Orange mana arced around her form, before finally receding back in. With a gasp she inhaled deeply. Pain sizzled across her skin, and she opened her eyes.
That appeared to have been a mistake, as the viscous smoke that floated above set them tearing up. Feebly she raised a hand to waft it away before attempting vision again.
Nabooru was the first person she saw. Slouching slightly against the bed, she offered Reza a comforting smile. A small pot next to her was releasing the smoke, which on further analysis gave quite a soothing smell.
Link, Navi and Malik stood behind Nabooru, all wearing mixed variations of relief and happiness. Malik seemed to be on the verge of tears; Navi was already crying. Link looked up and silently offered a prayer to the Goddesses.
Slowly the events that happened trickled into her mind. Battling against a horde of Dark Copies, suddenly realising that they were vanishing and an orange glow striking towards and swarming her. From then on… nothing.
It didn't matter though. From what she could garner from their faces, she had to be thankful. She was alive.
-S-
A/N: Ha! Promised to release it on Tuesday – that actually depends where you live, thinking about it – and I managed to. Well, I feel rather pleased about that. Please, give your comments and criticisms. Although forgive me if I don't pay too much attention to criticisms: I'm too pleased with myself. Beat the damned machine.
In case no one noticed – which I hardly doubt, but just making sure – the names of the two creatures were deliberate. I hate Barney and all the derivations of his songs. They just grow… irritating. My apologies if someone finds that offensive.
There was a link here to something else, but I can't remember what… The game Seven Gambits I actually made up, and thinking about it deeper, it sounds like a pretty cool game. The colour coding of the Gerudo came from Majora's Mask: you actually only fight 4, and they're in slightly different orders, but that's what I put them into anyway.
Just out of curiosity, could you tell me which country you're reviewing from? I'd like to know where I'm impacting. Thanks.
