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Chapter 37
Uncertain Hope
The Goron chieftain, Goro, possibly Goro-goro - nobody was quite clear on that part, not even Goro himself - led Link and Zelda through a few more caves, all interconnected by smaller, narrower tunnels that the large rock creature barely fit through, before they reached what seemed to be their attempt at an armory. Spears and hammers were scattered around on the ground randomly, and even though there were a few weapon stands here and there, none of them were in use.
"We only have spears and hammers, goro. Though I think the hammers might be too heavy for you two."
Link bent down and pulled out a spear from underneath a hammer while Zelda wandered around, tutting under her breath at the condition of the weapons.
"Can you use that, goro?" Goro asked Link. "It's meant to be held with two hands."
Link tested the balance and then placed the end of the spear against the ground before breaking it in half with his foot.
"Oh!" Goro protested, but Link was already slipping the shortened weapon through his belt loop.
"This'll work," Link said. "Zelda, what're you-" he paused when he saw her attempting to lift one of the hammers. "Just use a spear, grandma!"
Zelda glared at him before giving her hammer of choice one final tug. The weapon swung upwards and came to rest at her shoulders, nearly toppling her over in the process. "Brat," she said, smiling smugly at Link. Her face fell slightly when she realized that moving either foot to move would completely throw her off balance.
Link rolled his eyes at her. He was about to ask Goro if they had any lighter hammers when he noticed that the Goron was leaving; his long shadow was wandering down the wall of the underground passageway, shuffling after the Goron in that casual, unhurried pace that the entire species seemed to have adopted.
Following after the Goron, Link left Zelda to try and walk with her hammer on her own. The sound of rushing water reached his ears as Link slipped into the next room over. A small river flowed past his feet, twisting and frothing before disappearing through a hole in the cavern wall.
"This is the river that will take you to the garden," Goro said; he was sitting at the river bank, his feet dipped into the salt water and kicking around aimlessly.
Link sat cross legged next to him. "It's not too long underground, is it? I can hold my breath pretty well, but not forever."
King Zora's head suddenly appeared from under the water, the fins on his head looking even more like hair now that they were wet and draping almost completely over his face. "Don't worry, man," he said, letting out a puff of air that sent the paper-thin fins flapping to the back of his head. "We Zora are fast swimmers. We'll drag you there in record time!"
"Oh good... that's good."King Zora grinned and then climbed up to join them, sitting down at Link's other side and copying the Goron as he let his feet splash into the water. They stared down at the river for a long while before Link cleared his throat. "Can I ask you something?"
"What is it, goro?"
"If you have a treaty with that tribe, why are you risking attacking them?"
King Zora scowled. "When the moon fell, everything on the surface was crushed. The oceans boiled. No one could survive it, not the Gorons in Goron City, and not the Zora in Zora Hall. Most of the Gorons lived deeper underground, in places like these caves, and a lot of my people hid here or tried to escape deeper into the ocean. But even so far down here, we still felt the impact..."
Goro let out a low hum. "When I came up to the visit the city, all I saw was death."
King Zora hung his head. "And there wasn't anything left of the oceans to see anything."
"I'm sorry," Link said quietly.
"They destroyed everything, and left us in the dark," King Zora said bitterly, hands tightening into fists. "We aren't fighting for revenge. We're fighting because... well, because..." He looked suddenly confused, as if he had never had to put his feelings into words before.
"Because we really miss hearing the people walking above us," Goro finished.
"Yeah. We can't let it happen to another world. And by what you and Zelda have told us, then they're already planning something awful for your world, too."
"Termina is dead, but we won't let that stop us!" Goro said, pounding a heavy fist into his chest.
As the heavy thud echoed around the cavern, Zelda came striding in, hands noticeably devoid of any weapon. She looked like she wanted to stick her tongue out at Link when he raised a questioning eyebrow at her, but instead settled for ignoring him completely. "When all this is over, you folks should come to Hyrule."
Link grinned as Goro and King Zora looked at her in shock.
"Are you sure, goro?"
"Why not?" Zelda asked casually. "I want to see Lucine's face when she sees our storybooks coming to life. It'll be fun. You guys should all wear masks when you come, that'll make it even better."
"You sure you aren't plotting to give that poor woman a heart attack?" Link asked as he stood up.
Zelda hummed thoughtfully, leaning against the rock wall as she considered it. "Pretty sure." Then her tone became more serious. "Besides, everyone deserves to see the sun."
Before the conversation could continue any further, the pair of Hylians suddenly found themselves in a bone crushing, air reducing hug.
"Goro..." Link choked out. "Can't breathe."
"You people are wonderful! You have given this place a hope that disappeared centuries ago!"
"Ok, Chief," Zelda said, awkwardly patting him on the back. "Put me down before I reconsider."
With a shout of laughter, Goro released them and let them topple to the ground.
"I must tell the others!" The large rock creature curled into a large ball before rolling off, crashing into almost every inch of wall along the way. It was easy to tell how far he had gotten by the fading thuds that followed him.
"Thank you," King Zora said as he finally stood himself. "I... He..." The Zora paused, head tilted to one side, as if the words he wanted to say were stuck somewhere on the edges of his mind, and he wanted them to spill over to a place where he could actually say them. "I may be the Zora king, but really it's been the chief that's been holding everything together. My father died when we lost the oceans, and..." King Zora rubbed at one of the fins along his arm, filling the room with a rigid scratching sound. "Well, it's just nice to see him genuinely happy for a change, you know? So thanks."
By the expression on his face he wanted to say more, but, once again at a loss for words, King Zora dived back into the water and quickly disappeared from the Hylians' sight.
"Well... just call me Miss Morale Booster," Zelda said, sounding rather proud of herself.
"I'm not doing that. It's too long."
"Whatever.
"No weapon?" he gestured towards her shoulders, which looked a bit lopsided from the hammer they had been trying to support earlier.
"I don't need no lousy weapon," Zelda instantly retorted, and a flicker of a flame passed between her fingers before dying off. "...Link, you ready for this?"
At the serious turn in Zelda's voice, Link began to feel a familiar feeling in the pit of his stomach. Once again, they found themselves just outside a battlefield. Once again, they might not see each other at the end of the day.
He met her eyes. "Hey, don't get soft on me just because you've aged."
The flicker of amusement in her expression was quickly covered by a false irritation. "See you on the other side, kid."
"You, too, General."
With a roll of her eyes, Zelda left to join the Goron side of the army. Link tightened his belt's grip on his weapon and then sat back down near the river, waiting for the Zora to arrive.
Hibiscus honestly couldn't understand how Colonel Angie had known that this room was an armory. It was obvious that it was such a thing in person; rows and rows of spears and bows lined the walls, each polished to the extent that anything with a sharp point sparkled in even the dimmest of lighting. But, on the map, which she was staring at right now in frustration, it looked like a closet. Maybe even a cupboard.
"Ya ain't got much real world experience, do ya?" Veli asked in amusement, observing the glare that deepened on her face with every second that she spent trying to figure out what it was Angie had seen that had clued her in.
"Ok, honestly, does that look like an armory to you?" Hibiscus asked, shoving the map under Veli's nose.
Veli only shrugged. Shooting him another glare, Hibiscus shoved the map against his chest so he would grab it before she stalked off.
"Hey, kid," Angie called out as Hibiscus joined her. "You any good with a bow?"
"A bow? I've only used guns before..." Hibiscus said apologetically.
"That's fine. It's essentially the same." Angie picked off one of the smaller bows and tossed it at her. "Point and shoot."
"Uh-huh..." the young girl said uncertainly. She pursed her lips when a quiver full of arrows was quickly tossed towards her as well.
"Here," Angie said, throwing the same weapon and supplies to Veli.
"Excuse me, Colonel," Suha said, sounding cross. "I'd rather not have an inexperienced person shooting next to me."
"Don't worry about it, ma'am," Angie replied. "They're gonna be in the back anyway."
Suha raised a critical eyebrow. "So we'll have to worry about being hit in the front and in the back?"
"Don' ya worry, Soupa," Veli said cheerfully. "Won' hit ya."
"It's Suha," the Gerudo replied with a glare.
Veli shrugged and then strung an arrow onto his bowstring before firing it. His eyes were pinned on a crate in the corner, but the arrow ended up flying straight towards Angie. The woman took a step to the side to avoid it, staring at Veli with little amusement.
Suha let out a bark of laughter. "Well, I guess he's right. He won't hit me, but he'll probably end up shooting you, Colonel."
As Angie and Suha began to argue on where Veli and Hibiscus should actually be during the battle, the girl in question walked back to Veli. "What's the matter with you?!"
"Don' see ya practicin'," Veli said defensively.
"That wasn't practice, that was near murder!"
Veli shrugged. "Heard it both ways."
"You have not," Hibiscus retorted, crossing her arms in agitation.
"Hey... hey, ya hear tha'?"
"Hear what?"
Veli waved at her to be quiet. Holding her breath, Hibiscus listened for whatever it was Veli was hearing over the bickering that was taking place between the Gerudo and Hylian leaders, although she suspected he was just imagining it; because he was crazy. Crazy and stupid, if she had to start making a list... which, of course, she was. Then the sound of footsteps approaching from outside the armory had her forgetting about her list, at least for the moment.
"Guys!" Hibiscus whispered loudly, running back to the others. "Someone's coming!"
The alarm came a little too late, however. As soon as the last word left Hibiscus' mouth, the door swung open.
"Don' worry, got 'em!" Veli shouted, even as the Hylians and Gerudo were drawing their weapons.
"Wait!" Angie shouted.
Hibiscus turned in time to hear the stretch of a bowstring. A large, familiar, goofy smile just under blue eyes brought her focus to the man standing in the doorway. It was Link.
"Veli, stop!" Hibiscus screamed, but the arrow had already left the bow.
A frown flickered on Link's face. The arrow crashed into the doorway next to him, chipping some of the wall before collapsing to the ground with a clatter.
"Hey... sorry," Veli said nervously.
Appraising eyes went from the arrow on the floor, to the white dent in the wall, and then finally landed on Veli. "Nice shot, buddy," Link commented.
"Dad!" Hibiscus charged forward and barreled into him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. A strong smell of chemicals wafted over her. The fabric under her hands was ridged and yet at the same time smooth - the strange paradox that only the robes from the temple could accomplish. All this she took in and then promptly ignored.
Link grunted at the impact, but his own arm was soon wrapped around her as well. "What are you doing here, Rosy?"
Hibiscus pressed her face into his chest, tears soaking into his robe. "Looking for you," she choked out.
Fingers stroked through her hair. "Good grief, Rosy, when you put your mind to something you go all out."
"Sir," Colonel Angie's stern voice came from somewhere behind Hibiscus, but she still refused to release her father. Relief, and all the fear that she had had bottled up inside her, was battling with each other, making her entire body quiver and yet feel numb all at once. All she wanted to do now was go home. That should be it, right? She had found what she had been looking for. Quest done. Time to go home. Wasn't that how these things usually worked?
"Colonel," Link's calm voice rumbled out above her head. "What's the situation?"
"I was hoping you would know, sir. Your kid here and her friend got us out of these strange pools..."
Hibiscus felt a flicker of annoyance over hearing Veli being called her friend.
"We have reason to believe that the queen of this place is planning an attack on Hyrule."
"What's your source?" Link asked, and Hibiscus could tell by his voice that he was frowning.
"Hibiscus, sir. There's... something about clones, I think, sir."
She felt the arm around her tense ever so slightly.
"Alright then," Link said, and then, with a flash of panic, she felt him beginning to pry her away from him. "Then I guess we should visit this queen and put an end to things."
Angie and the other Hylian soldiers snapped to attention. "Yes, sir!"
Link nodded towards the Gerudo council, who had yet to separate from each other since being reunited. Now, however, they were no longer whispering to each other and shooting daggers at the Hylian soldiers. Instead they were staring back at Link as if an annoying, troublesome relative had walked in on their private party, and they weren't sure how to deal with him. "Ladies," he said in a curt greeting.
"Link," Suha responded. "You aren't dead."
Hibiscus frowned; what sort of thing was that to say? The woman hadn't sounded happy or even upset about the concept either, as if she was just stating an obvious fact.
Link winked at her. "Not yet!"
As the other adults returned to gathering weapons, Link turned to Hibiscus, his voice softening to the point where she could barely hear him. "Alright, hey-"
"Have you seen Byrne?" Hibiscus asked, rubbing her face against her sleeves.
"Byrne? Is he here, too?" Link asked, concern in his eyes.
Hibiscus nodded. "We got separated and I haven't seen him in a while."
"Alright, don't worry. We'll find him. Now I want you and..." he glanced up at Veli, his face hardening ever so slightly when he took in the boy's appearance. "Who is this?"
"That's... Veli," Hibiscus grumbled while the boy in question waved cheerfully.
For a while Link's gaze flicked between Veli and Hibiscus, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Uh-huh... And you two are...?"
Hibiscus snorted. "Dad, please. We're barely acquaintances."
"Oh good... that's good.." Seeming more at ease, Link patted her on the shoulder. "You two hide here until I come back to get you, ok?"
"What? No!" Hibiscus grabbed at his bare hand, clutching at the pale digits tightly. "I'm sticking with you."
The man let out a sigh as he slid his hand out of hers and tucked it into his pocket. "Rosy..."
"I'm not losing you again!"
He looked into her eyes and then smiled. "You've got some spark in your eyes now, my little gremlin." His hand darted out to ruffle at her hair before retreating back into the robe's deep pocket.
"Dad, come on," Hibiscus complained, patting down her hair and not caring about the childish whine that had been in her voice.
With a grin and a wink, Link left Hibiscus to join Angie and the council, who were clearly still arguing over something if the agitated hand motions and glares that were being passed around were anything to go by.
Hibiscus couldn't hear what they said, but she was far too elated to have her father back to even worry about what they were discussing. They could be talking about where to go for dinner after for all she cared.
"Hey," Veli whispered at her.
"What now?" she asked with a groan, still refusing to take her eyes off of her father. An irrational part of her brain had decided that if she were to lose sight of him, he'd disappear forever this time.
"Sorry for almost shootin' ya da. Good thin' 'm a bad shot, huh?"
Her eyebrows pulled together in a withering glare. "Just keep quiet, ok? The sooner this is over, the sooner we can fix your mistake. Before more people die."
Veli clutched at his bag tighter and looked at the ground near his feet. "Yeah."
"Alright!" Link called out as his hand finally came out of that pocket to grab a spear. He snapped it in half, so it was easier to handle with just one hand, and then pointed it towards the still open doorway. "Let's go. Hylians will take point, Gerudo will cover our backs with bows. You kids stick to the middle."
"Ok," Hibiscus said eagerly.
The group quickly left the armory, only to come face to face with a heavily panting Thimis.
"Oh good, there you are!" Thimis said happily when he spotted Hibiscus.
The Gerudo pointed their bows at him, their glares deepening when his grin only grew wider. Hibiscus was quick to intervene, jumping up and down with her arms flailing about. She was certain that she looked ridiculous, but by the look on Suha's face she was just a second away from shooting the man, just to prove she should be taken seriously.
"Hold your fire! He's a friend!"
"What do you want?" Link asked, sounding incredibly hostile all the sudden.
Thimis' face paled slightly when he locked eyes with Link. "Ah... I see you found them already."
Hibiscus frowned in confusion. When had they met? Better yet, why weren't they friends? Thimis was supposed to be on their side... right? That's what the only other Hylian in this place had said, anyway. Granted, she was probably still in the single digits when it came to age, but still.
Then she spotted a new bruise coloring the other side of Thimis' face, and she quickly pointed at it. "What happened to your face this time?"
"Oh this, it's nothing," Thimis said with a wave of his hand. "I ran into a wall."
Hibiscus narrowed her eyes, feeling more prepared this time for another round of the man's strange conversations. "What, again?"
"Actually, this was a different one. But it looked the same," Thimis said. He was smiling, always with that same smile, but his eyes were holding an unspoken warning.
Hibiscus felt uneasy. What was he saying? The last time he had referred to a wall, she was pretty certain he had been referring to her father. Was there another one of his clones running around? A shiver ran down her back.
"Why can't you just say what you mean?" Hibiscus asked, putting her hands on her hips.
Thimis echoed the motion. "Why would I do that?"
"Gee, I don't know," she replied sarcastically. "Maybe so that you can have a real conversation with someone?"
His hands fell to his sides dejectedly. "That sounds dreadfully boring, my dear. Well, I'm off! Watch out for that wall!"
"Wait right there!" both Angie and Link shouted, and they moved to grab him.
But in the blink of an eye Thimis was suddenly gone, leaving behind the impression of his wide smile and nervous stance in the air. That, too, quickly faded until there was nothing left but the stone wall behind him.
Hibiscus looked at her father, whose back was turned to her. "He's not..." Hibiscus argued with herself. "He's the real one. He's not acting weird like the other one."
She nodded to herself, but as the group set off again she couldn't quite shake the thin sliver of doubt.
Next chapter: action battle time! ...That's not the name of the chapter, it's just a summary of it. And a darn tootin' good summary it is if I do say so myself!