It was a silent and sad trip back to Outset for Link. Mostly all of the people on board the ship were down in the belly of the boat, celebrating up a storm. Music was playing from a phonograph, all the adult pirates were filling giant mugs up with a frothy liquid that was pouring from the tap of a barrel, Tetra was choosing which songs came next, Ritos were walking and flying around the room, Koroks were spinning through the air with their samaras, Medli and Makar were just watching in fascination and Aryll was looking for her brother. Several times, she saw Gonzo's green shirt and stopped him, but his size quickly gave him away.

"Excuse me, Niko, have you seen my brother anywhere?" she asked as Niko came stumbling past. He stopped in deep thought.

"Eh? Well, I 'aven't seen yer manhole cover since we pulled 'im aboard da boat!" answered Niko. "Don' worry yerself! I'm sure 'e's at da morry somewhere!"

With that, the pirate disappeared into the crowd.

"Excuse me, excuse me!" puffed a breathless voice, pushing through the crowd of people. Finally, Medli came bursting out towards Aryll. "What's wrong? Are you lost?" she asked.

"No. I'm just wondering where my brother is. Do you know Link? The one in the green clothes?"

"Oh! Yes! Him! He actually helped me restore the power to his blade, so I know a lot about him!" said Medli. "I'll help you look for him."

Medli went behind Aryll and pulled her into the air, beating her wings wildly to stay aloft. Aryll was a lot lighter than Link, so she was having a much easier time.

"Do you see him?" she called over the sound of her own wing beats. Aryll scanned the sea of heads. Unfortunately, no green cap caught her eyes.

"I can't see him. Thanks for helping, though."

The sound of a spinning samara rattled towards the two.

"Link's sister! Link's sister! I've found your brother!" squealed Makar as he flew over to them, "He's outside on the deck! He seems upset!"

Medli and Aryll gasped, the former putting the latter down. "Thank you, mister!" said Aryll hurriedly before the three of them began to run through the crowd, causing one pirate to drop his drink.

CRASH!

Medli and Aryll almost sent the door flying as they burst out onto the deck. Makar flew along behind them. Just as the Korok had said, Link was unresponsive, sitting on a stool and gazing out into the sunset. Beside him sat the empty shell of his boat, which the crew had pulled aboard with them.

"Hey, what's wrong?" said Medli soothingly as she stepped towards him.

"Yeah, big brother! Are you all right?" asked his sister, running towards him.

"..."

Link was silent for a few moments as the three crowded around him.

"Yeah… I'm just… fine. I'm OK." sighed the boy, not turning around.

"Big brother… You're not OK." replied Aryll softly. "If you were, you'd be down there with everyone else! You can tell us!"

"Yeah!" chimed in Makar.

"We'll listen!" assured Medli.

…

…

…

Slowly, Link turned to face the former King. Medli, Makar and Aryll followed his gaze.

"Oh, hey! Sire! How are you-" said Medli with a breath of excitement. This excitement quickly left her when she was answered by dead silence. This was not like the King at all.

"Wait, is he..." faltered Makar, his voice breaking.

"Yes. I… He gave his life so that I could have a future." mumbled Link. Aryll looked completely baffled.

"But… Its a boat." she said. "What happened?"

"Oh, right. You don't know." sighed Link. Medli opened her mouth to explain to her, but Link continued. "In fact, there's a lot about him that you don't know, so I'll explain to you all."

Slowly, in monotone, Link told the trio all about the stories that they didn't know. He filled Aryll in on why he referred to the boat as if it was a person.

"A talking boat? Did you hit your head when you landed in the water?" she gasped.

"No, I didn't. The boat was very much alive." said Link, his voice cutting out of monotone.

"He's right. I saw it with my own eyes." supported Medli.

"Yeah! Me too!" squeaked Makar.

"Well..." continued Link, "I got a sail and..."

The conversation kept going and going and going, but you've already heard it, so I'll skip ahead to when he starts talking about the King's secret identity.

"After going through the Tower of the Gods… He decided to dive all the way underwater to a kingdom that was underwater! Hyrule!"

"HYRULE?!" screamed all three of the spectators.

"Yes, Hyrule."

"Big brother, isn't that what you went to Sturgeon to learn about?" stammered Aryll, taking a few steps back.

"Yes, it is! It was under this massive dome that stopped all the water pouring onto it. There, I got the Master Sword!"

Link reached for the weapon and couldn't feel it. After a brief moment of panic, he remembered that it was lodged in an unrecognisable stone formation at the bottom of the ocean.

"Well… I returned to the surface. That was when I rescued you, sis!"

"Wait, was the Master Sword that one you started moving about? I thought it was different from your last one!"

"Yeah! It was! Afterwards, I went back to Hyrule and found out that the King was… Literally a King. Like… An actual monarch! The King of Hyrule!"

"NO WAY!" shouted the enraptured three in surprise.

"Yes. From there, we got you two to power the Master Sword up so I could beat Ganondorf and… I did. The King flooded the kingdom and… he took himself with it."

Link had been very animated as the story rose and when it fell… so did his face.

Medli picked up Makar and whispered to him.

"What do we do?"

"I have an idea!" answered Makar, equally hushed. "I don't think that it's hit him yet! Ask him if he's noticed anything!"

"What?" whispered Medli. "What's that meant to do?"

"He seemed upset that he had to make us stay in the praying chambers, but now we're free! I don't think he's fully realised that yet!"

Medli's face brightened. "Yes! That's a good idea!"

She put Makar down and cleared her throat.

"Link?"

CRASH!

At that moment, Niko burst through the door. "Oy! Marill, or whadever ya name is!" he panicked. Aryll turned to face him.

"What is it?" she said seriously as she ran over to him.

"Nudge's Eiffel Tower is stuck on! 'E can't turn it off!"

Aryll lowered one of her eyebrows. "The Eiffel Tower? Isn't that the giant thingy from that parallel world Tetra told me about?"

"Eiffel Tower, shower! We need yer 'andywork!" panted Niko. Aryll ran towards him and disappeared through the door and into the ship.

…

…

…

"Could he have chosen a worse time?" mumbled Makar. Medli cleared her throat again.

"Link?"

The boy turned to face her.

"Notice anything?"

Link squinted a little. "Have you changed your hair?"

Makar put his palm to his face and groaned, but Medli just snorted in laughter a bit.

"Remember what you said in the Earth Temple when you were about to leave?" she asked hopefully.

"That… I hope we met again some-" started Link before he suddenly stopped dead. How had he not noticed? All this time, Medli and Makar were right in front of him and he didn't even realise that they didn't have to spend their whole lives in the temples any more!

Link stared at the two, white faced in surprise. "You're… You're… back." he muttered between gasps of air.

"Finally!" said Makar, a hint of teasing in his voice.

"Yes. We're back." said Medli softly.

"You're back!"

Suddenly, Link almost floored Medli and DEFINITELY floored Makar with a massive hug.

"Whoa!" laughed Medli. "Taking a page of my book, I see!"

"Please let me go, Link!" gasped Makar. "I can't breathe!"

"Oh, sorry!" said Link with a nervous laugh as he let the two go.

"LAAAAAAAAAAND HO!" bellowed Zuko from the top of the crow's nest. Link, Medli and Makar all ran off up to the front of the ship and looked ahead.

In the distance was a set of twin islands. The island on the left had a normal peak, the one on the right had a forest on top.

It was Outset Island.

They had returned home.

Medli turned around to look at the red boat that lay still on the deck, frowning with thoughtfulness. Finally, she turned back to Link as the boat groaned to a halt at the dock.

"Link..." she began. Link looked over at her, as did Makar. "I have an idea."

{Epilogue}

I bet you're wondering what Medli's idea was, eh? Well, Dragon Roost Islands Aviary had a room that was used for religion, things like that. Link saw it on the way up the lift on his first visit to Dragon Roost. He didn't think he'd see it again, let alone actually use it.

Do you get it?

Yes, Medli had somehow convinced all of the Rito of Link's story and they set up a memorial service for the King of Hyrule. Link had never been to a service like this before. It just felt so bizarre.

Masses and masses and masses of people had gathered to pay their respects to this hero, who had given his entire kingdom to move the world on. Everywhere you looked, there were people. A whole line of citizens from all over were spiralling up and down the path (thank goodness they'd finally got the new guard rail up) and out of the Aviary. Those who couldn't get in listened to the service outside via a second vicar. Unfortunately, this included Granny and Aryll. Even those who had hardly even seen Link had turned up. Doc Bandam from Windfall was at the very back of the room, Cannon the bomb master was standing on a barrel so he could see, Cranston the silver pheasant was shooting death glares over to Mr. Ken's golden pheasant, EVERYONE WAS THERE.

Link sat at an empty pew at the front of the church, which several people had left so he could be in peace. Luckily, Medli and Makar both arrived a little late. Makar noticed the boy sitting by himself, stood on one side of him and directed Medli to sit on the other. The Pirates finished ferrying people from various islands and they pushed through crowd after crowd after crowd to get to their reserved pew. Throughout the occasion, Gonzo was crying into a handkerchief, blowing his nose and making a sound as if he was playing the trumpet, even though he'd never met the man. Niko continuously asked who was 'brown bread' and Mako had his head buried in the hymn book.

Everyone mumbled their way through Hylian hymns and a Rito that was clearly used to speaking Spanish made a rather butchered speech about the King and his heroism.

It wasn't his fault. Try doing a speech entirely in Spanish about a boat that could talk. His voice started to raise whenever he read something off the script that sounded like something out of a medieval fantasy novel.

"This… was no ordinary man. He was a King. A King of Red Lions. That… was the name of the boat that could talk? Oh, sorry about that!"

He could have been waffling on about any old man who had just sent the entire ocean crashing onto himself.

"Now, everyone! Open your books to page 213, hymn 909, 'O, Hylia'. Mr. González, the music-"

BOOM!

An almighty explosion roared from the back of the room. With a bright flash of fire, smoke started billowing into the air. Medli yelped and ducked. Makar squeaked and toppled off the pew.

"¿QUÉ FUE ESO?" blasted the vicar.

"Did 'e just drop an orson?" shouted Niko as the smoke started to dissipate, revealing...

Doc Bandam.

There he was, holding a test tube horizontally over a vertical one. His entire front was blackened and his mouth was open with shock.

"Well, well, well. Explain yourself, mister Bandam." demanded the vicar. The scientist slowly raised his head and began hoarsely speaking.

"W-w-well… This whole thing is kind of… making me sad. I was trying to mix a potion to calm myself down!"

…

…

…

"I'll see myself out." groaned Bandam as he shuffled out of the room, smoke trailing from behind him.

As if nothing happened, the service continued.

When all was done, Link's friends all descended upon his house to keep him company for a while. Komali and Medli, who had barely separated upon reunion, chatted with Link's kindly grandmother, who hadn't forgotten a moment of it. Makar and Linder, who had hardly not been playing their instruments together, were flying around the house, checking out every nook and cranny.

"Hey, Linder! Look! He had these weapons when he came and got me away from the Forbidden Woods!"

"Oh! I recognise those!"

"Whoa! Look at the red stuff in there! It's mesmerising!"

"Stop! That's the fireplace!"

"Oh… right."

Link just sat on the sofa and stared down at his new weapon. After being told about Link's time with the Master Sword, Orca laboured long and hard to craft him an absolutely perfect replica of the Master Sword. He had gone all the way to a rocky island to mine Luminous Stone and promptly made an absolutely smashing sword out of it. It wasn't anywhere near as powerful as the Master Sword was, but it was just as light and easy to handle. It even glowed, just like the real blade. It even made the VUM noises.

"Link!"

The boy nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt a tiny, stubby hand touch his side and a pale, skinny hand on his shoulder.

The two sages had come back to see him. Link hadn't really realised just how grateful he was that they were alive. He thought that they would have drowned due to the temples possibly being filled with water, but all of the drama had caused him to take his mind off it until now.

"We just wanted to say, we love this place! Your home is amazing!" chirped Makar.

"Yes! And your grandmother! She is an amazing cook! I've had about three bottles of her soup and I still haven't got tired of it!" said Medli as she took out a bottle and almost downed an entire bottle of yellow soup.

"Yeah. She makes it all the time." replied Link. "And thank you, Makar."

Suddenly, the door burst open. Several people went running out of the door and into the sands to play. He wasn't sure, but Link thought he saw Mila amongst the crowd, now wearing normal clothes. Not ridiculously rich clothes, not dirt poor clothes, just normal, plain clothes.

"Oh! Well, we'll be going off with them! Will you be all right on your own or would you like to come with us?" asked Medli. Link shook his head.

"No thanks. I'll stay here for a while. I… I forgot to tell you, but I'm… travelling with Tetra in two weeks. We're going to find new land."

"Oh?" squeaked Makar. Medli simply took him outside. She understood. Link had to spend as much time with his grandmother as he could and while he could.

Finally, the time had come. The time for Link and Tetra to finally start work on the King's request. During his week, Link received several visitors. Quill the postman delivered letters of support and good luck from the other Rito and Windfallers, both sages and their friends came to see him a lot. even Tetra and her pirates came around prematurely just to see how he was doing. Niko would often say that he had 'a nice cat', but Link did not own a cat. Must have been another slang word. Orca would quickly pop around every day to teach Link some new techniques. Kevin the pig even came scratching at the door every day until it was time to go.

As much as Link wanted to set off quickly, he was going to miss his home. He knew the island like the back and front of his hand. He knew every single lookout spot, every single climbing tree, every single shade of blue the ocean would turn at exactly what time of each month, he knew every constellation he could see outside his window at night, he knew even the most trivial details.

"Pull yourself together, Link!" thought the boy, "It's not like I'll never come back at any point!"

Link was standing at the end of the jetty, where Tetra's ship was moored up. He felt himself over to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. All he felt was the remaining wounds from his battle with Ganondorf. Most of the slashes had gone down but there was one that Orca had diagnosed as a scar that would stay on his chest forever and never leave its new home. Not ever. It was from the time Ganondorf had almost knocked Link off the tower with his darkness infused blade. Medli, Makar, Aryll and Granny were both very sympathetic and tried their best to find something to make it go down but it was no use.

But Link didn't mind. He had supportive friends and family and that was all that mattered. Plus, most of the pirates had scars of their own that they thought were great achievements. "So I should fit right in."

"Your bag, brother!" chimed Aryll as she ran along the jetty to Link, carrying his brown, bottomless bag. Luckily, Link had not lost a single item from the bag while being forced away from Hyrule. One rather strange thing did happen, though.

When Link unzipped the bag, a big whoosh of wind gusted from inside and hit him in the face like the air from a hand dryer. When he reached inside, he felt every single item that he had collected.

Except the Wind Waker.

It was as if it had just vanished. He knew he didn't leave it in Hyrule because he would have noticed such an important item fall out. Maybe he was too focused on saving the King, but he was still pretty sure that he would have noticed.

"Thank you, Aryll." said Link as he fumbled about in his bag for the Wind Waker.

No.

The baton was gone.

"You will… come back one day, will you?" asked Aryll hopefully. Link couldn't help but notice her voice breaking.

"Oh, sis!" Link hugged his sister tight, which she returned, fighting not to burst into tears. Link planted a tender kiss on her head before putting her down. From above, he heard a teasing voice.

"Oy! Finish up yer mix an' muddle and we can se' off!"

NIKO.

Link glared daggers up at the pirate as two unseen figures threw a rigging overboard.

"Aryll, I've left a sword up by my old shield. I want you to have them now. When you feel confident, take it by the handle and ask Orca for some lessons." explained Link.

Aryll nodded. "Right! When you return, I'll show you just how much I'd have learned!"

"And… before I forget again… Here's your telescope back!"

Link smiled inspiringly as he handed the girl her telescope. Trying to hide her tears, Aryll turned and ran up the jetty.

With that, Link tried to scramble up onto the boat, but he felt a large impact on his back, almost sending his teeth flying out like false gnashers. Turning around, he saw Orca standing behind him, a proud grin on his face.

"Ow! Orca, all of my organs are now two inches further forward!" Link said as he examined his back and noticed a large hand print on the back of his tunic.

The man turned red and cleared his throat. "Sorry, I just wanted to say… I am glad you were my student."

The man bowed down to Link, who mimicked him.

"You were, by far, my most talented pupil." finished Orca. Turning around, he began to walk back up the jetty.

"Oh, I say! Junior!"

Granny came bustling down the jetty, carrying a basket full of food and her soup. "For the journey! Don't forget to write!" The woman pushed the basket into Link's hands and almost asphyxiated him with a giant hug. She planted a kiss on his forehead.

"Will do, Granny. I'll try and find an island with a postbox on it." said Link. Granny turned and trotted off.

Right, then… Link-

OINK!

Link jumped to find Kevin sniffing his tunic again. He probably thought that he was a lettuce leaf.

"Bye then, Kevin. I'll… see you later." said Link as he stroked the pig's curly hair.

With no more interruptions, the boy clambered up the side of the boat. Standing on top were Medli and Makar again. They wanted to help by throwing that rigging.

However, they also had an interesting story to tell. It started with a bit of backstory on how their lives were when they were praying and how it actually wasn't all that bad, but...

"So, we were praying for the Master Sword as we usually do. Suddenly, we heard this deep, echoing voice!" said Medli excitedly. Link leaned forward in interest.

"Yeah!" squeaked Makar. "It was just like… I have scattered my seeds of the future!"

Suddenly, Link's heart dropped.

Oh, no.

"We both heard rumbling and water started leaking through the walls, so we both used the port- Hey, are you OK?" faltered Medli. She could see that Link's eyes were starting to water. "Oh. It was… him, wasn't it?"

Link silently nodded his head and then hung it down. He still hadn't gotten over it, despite it being two weeks ago. Medli looked down with sad eyes, understanding her friend's pain. She even felt it herself. Makar immediately understood who he heard as well and started to feel immensely guilty for imitating him with such an exaggerated voice.

"I am so sorry." said Medli softly. Makar tried to hug him, but he had a pretty hard time because of his size and stubby arms. Medli joined in, doing what she could do very well.

Suddenly, Link felt Tetra joining in. When he opened his eyes again, he calmed down a little. The trio's efforts had worked. Medli and Makar decided to leave them be now. They all had places to go. Stretching their flying appliances, they took off and flew back in the direction of their home islands. "Bye, Link! You can come back at any time!" Medli called back to him. Makar also said something but the wind didn't quite carry it far enough.

"He meant a lot to you, didn't he?" said Tetra solemnly. This time, Link mustered up the strength to answer.

"Yeah. He did. I mean, the way he hid everything from me until the last second was… kind of irritating, but… now that he's gone… I am beginning to miss that. He was just… looking out for me. The whole time. I wish I'd realised that sooner."

"Sometimes, one has to be cruel to be kind." said Tetra. "He wasn't cruel, per se, but… you know what I mean."

Link looked up at her, his face filled with torment and suffering once more. "Why? Why didn't he just come with us? I almost reached him in time!"

Tetra didn't want to hear any more at risk of tears battering through her eyes as well. Silently, she pulled Link into another tight hug. They stayed like that for several moments. Tetra did not even snap when Niko made a playful, verbal jab at them. Link didn't even get mad. He was just happy to be with the people he enjoyed the company of.

"Right, then!" shouted Tetra, almost deafening Link. "Lift the anchor! Check the steering! Let's go! And fast!"

"Right!" answered Gonzo. All of the pirates got to work. Link bashed the gong, Niko went downstairs to wait for a potential new student, Zuko hauled himself up the ladder, Mako began reading out coordinates and Gonzo stood at the gong, waiting for his turn to strike.

"Where is our next destination, Tetra?" asked Link as he looked back at Outset one last time.

Suddenly, the wind picked up a slight breeze, aiming straight away from Outset.

"Our destination?" began the captain. "It looks like the wind has an idea!"

At long last, the boat began to rock away from Outset. It kept going and going and going until the waving villagers were just specks in the horizon, as was the island.

Their next destination? The wind would guide them!

{THE END}

Well, that's the end of the story! Already! Well, I hope you all enjoyed my adaptation!

Thank you to the guests who have left those nice reviews. If I can grab the time to do it, I'll make a trivia page, listing Behind The Scenes snippets and what the foreign speakers were saying.

Man, I am really going to miss doing this! I'm probably going to relax the next day and be all like "AAAAAAAARGH! I'M LATE!" and then realise… I've finished the book already!

I wish you all safe travels. Let the wind guide you. I, like Link, like Zelda, like Medli, like Makar, like… the King… must have some kind of destiny that I have to fulfil.

I'll see you in my next piece of work. I look forward to seeing all of you.