Chapter 36 – Crystal Sea

When breakfast was over and done with, Talen plodded over to where the gates lay in ruins. Surprisingly enough, there were people there; most likely those that hadn't been able to escape the city. Most of them seemed to be men trying to asses the way in which they would reopen the way to the outside world to get word out that the Golem was gone. They saw Talen approach and received him with some surprise.
"We didn't think there was anyone left besides us," a rather well-dressed man said. "Is there anyone else with you, lad?" Talen nodded.
"They're back a ways in a small cottage. We're just about to head on, but I wanted to see if I could help clear this way out first," the boy frowned, squinting at the damage. "Doesn't look too good, does it."
"I'm afraid not. It will take some time to move all of the rubble out of…the…way," the man trailed off. Talen had walked up to where the gates had once stood before he began shoving the great blocks of stone from the fallen gates away. Once that had been done, he set about burrowing into the collapsed pass. The people watched as he disappeared into a small tunnel with awe, before he reappeared and dusted his hands off.
"Good news," he said. "The pass has only fallen in a short way, the rest is clear." The people merely stared at him.

By midmorning, Talen had practically cleared all of the rubble out of the way, forming a large pile of discarded rock and debris just inside the city. The people had watched him quietly the entire time, still rather shocked at the sight of a boy who had managed to clear several tons of blocks and stone. Talen stood back and admired his work before he heard the sound of metal clinking against metal and Link's voice.
"Hey!" he called. "We're all ready to go. Are you done here?" Talen turned to face his friend.
"Almost," the smith replied, scruffing the back of his hair. "But…since everyone wants to head off I suppose I can leave it here."
"Jeez, you've moved a fair bit since this morning," Link said with some surprise. "How far do you have to go?"
"Not very much," Talen informed him. "Only a few more feet at the most."
"Oh…well they can wait I suppose," Link shrugged. "I'll just tell them you'll only be a little while longer." Talen nodded as Link turned and headed back to the cottage with the Key's rings clinking along behind him.
"All done?" Florella asked as Talen returned. The boy nodded and gulped down some water from the pump in the kitchen.
"Some of the people have started looking for those that left. They'll spread the word that the city is free of the Golem. Talen then laughed. "I think they were a little bit intimidated by me."
"Well seeing a young boy throwing rocks that a fully grown man couldn't even budge may do that to some people," Link snorted, fumbling slightly with his pack. He eventually got everything on correctly as Saria made a few rounds of the cottage to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything. Once she was positive everything was present and accounted for, she clapped her hands.
"All right," she breathed. "Is everybody ready to go?" Talen gave the affirmative as he picked up his readily-stuffed pack.
"The Crystal Sea awaits," Impa murmured, leading the way.

The group was lucky to have chosen a relatively warm day to leave Gale. The usual biting winds that howled through the valley were significantly less strong. Since starting out, they had descended the valley and made their way along the relatively flat cropland where the second exit from the city was located.
"It's a long tunnel that goes straight through the base of the mountain. The river flows through it as well, but you don't have to worry about falling in because there's a wall there," Impa told them, pointing towards a set of large gates built into the end of the valley. "It's easy to see in there too, thanks to the glow worms that live on the cave's roof. It's really quite a sight to see." Ark looked visibly relieved.
"How long does it take to get to the other side, Miss Impa?" the grey-haired boy asked.
"Oh…we'll probably get to the other side by nightfall," the Sheikah woman frowned thoughtfully. "There's a small rest stop for travelers on the coast of the sea which, incidentally; is right where the other end of the cave ends up. Tomorrow morning we can set out across the sea."

The gates leading into the cave required Talen's efforts to open since the guards that were usually posted to operate the mechanisms were not present. Once he had pushed them far enough apart, the party was able to slip through and enter the vast tunnel that burrowed under the mountain. True to Impa's word, thousands of tiny glow worms clustered about the roof of the cave, illuminating the way with a dull green glow. Ark was still a little ill at ease about it, so he illuminated the tip of his staff and held it close. Nyara padded along beside him, knowing full well of his fear of the dark. Florella watched them from behind with some amusement. With Ark's staff glowing away, only their silhouettes could be seen. There was Ark's; with his long-sleeved top and cloak that seemed slightly big for him and the large, feathery quills of hair that stuck up from his fringe. Then there was Nyara with her slightly taller and obviously female form. The tail swishing along behind her and the large ears sticking out on either side of her head made the two of them look like the oddest pair anyone had seen. Strangely enough, from all the time they had been together it was hard to imagine one without the other. Wherever Ark was, Nyara was most likely not too far away; ready to protect, preen and play with the boy in an instant. Yet still nobody actually knew why she was with them. She had simply appeared, seemingly out of nowhere and with little in the way of a reason for doing so. Florella smiled and looked at the animal girl as she almost danced along next to Ark. Perhaps it was Ark's contrasting personality that had so attracted Nyara's curiosity in the first place; a well-spoken, quiet boy in comparison to a jovial and sometimes rather boisterous animal girl. Florella smiled to herself. She couldn't think of anyone that could hate Ark, aside from one black-haired girl of course. He was quiet, even more reserved than Link and he was just so utterly innocent. That and his frighteningly good manners were perhaps his most endearing traits, making him the hands down "favorite" of the female proportion of the party.
"Whoo! Careful, Florella," Talen said, whisking her over to the side and breaking the fairy's tangent of thought. "It may be paved through here, but the Golem must have dislodged some rocks from the roof. You almost walked smack into one." Florella blinked.
"Oh, thank you, Talen," she giggled sheepishly. "I wasn't paying attention." She waited for the remark that she expected to come unbidden to Link's lips, but the blonde boy was paying attention to what was in front of him rather than her. Though he was undoubtedly the most frustrating person to ever grace the planet, Florella had to admit that there really was nobody else quite like him. For most of the time he was a real boy; mucking around with Talen and Ark, but underneath it all he was very sweet and unquestioningly brave. Those qualities were without a doubt the things that had ultimately landed him right in the paths of Fura and Zelda, both of whom he had used his life to protect. Florella recalled the very moment he had been struck down in the throne room of Windhill's huge palace to keep Fura alive. That moment had given him permanent ownership of Fura's heart…not that the remarkably dense individual could really comprehend it. With Zelda it had most definitely been the even in which half of his life was given to the Princess to prevent her from dying. In so doing, the two became connected, but with only Zelda really taking advantage of their odd connection to learn many things about the boy. In the end, he was doomed one way or another; if it wasn't going to be Fura, then it would be Zelda, if it wasn't going to be Zelda, then it would be Fura. Then there was Ruto waiting all the way back in Zora's Domain, but Florella was quite certain that a coupling of Link and Ruto had the wrong feel to it; something wasn't right.
"Poor girl," Florella sighed. "I don't think she ever had a chance."
"What was that, Florella?" Talen asked. Florella blinked.
"Oh, nothing! I was just thinking out loud," she said quickly.
"All right," the smith said simply. The dependable Talen. It was almost odd that somebody so gentle and calm could have the power to rip apart boulders with his bare hands. Strong as he was, Talen was also able to create tiny things of beautiful intricacy; such as the necklace the Great Fairy wore wherever she went. Though scarcely seen outside her clothing, the necklace held great value to her. Talen had given it to her as a present one year in a kind of offhand way, which seemed to beset how beautiful it was. It was a finely crafted chain that was no thicker than a few strands of silk, and it felt that way too. Hanging from it was a tiny silver flower that seemed too small for somebody like Talen to craft. She had asked him how he'd made something so fine and delicate, but he had merely shrugged and changed the subject. Florella looked down at Talen's hand as they walked; catching the glint of gold from the ring he wore. Florella smiled. She had taken a huge gamble in sticking the ring on his finger. It could have driven him away completely or even made him resent her…but Talen just seemed to have gotten used to it. That was the one thing that always stayed with Florella; she was never really sure of how Talen viewed her. He was always kind to her, but was that as far as it went? As the Great Fairy of Spring, Florella was in fine tune with the emotions of people around her…most of the time. Being in a child's body had affected her somewhat, but her magic was just as strong as ever. The only thing was she simply didn't have the heart to pry into Talen's soul to see how he saw her. It was something that squirmed away inside her like a worm made out of doubt…but despite her doubts she simply couldn't imagine life without him.
"Florella, are you paying attention to your feet?" Talen asked, once again interrupting her train of thought.
"Hmm? Oh!" Florella squeaked, skipping out of the way of another large rock.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Talen asked curiously. "You look like you've been daydreaming since we started out." Oh well, at least she knew he was looking out for her.
The group was quite unprepared for the blast of icy air that met them as they left the mouth of the tunnel. Navi and Chat dove into the clothing of their respective partners ast he wind buffeted them around. Snow filled the air and covered the ground and roofs of a small town built at the edge of a semi-frozen sea. The road from the tunnel wound through the center of the town before leading further off around the coast. Built out over the water were some of the strangest boats they had ever seen. But they didn't have much time to look at them as Impa quickly herded them along and into a double-storey building on the side of the road. The party burst in with a flurry of snowflakes following them.

"Eeee! It's s-so c-cold out there!" Zelda chattered.
"Y-you said it!" Saria shivered.
"Hah, I don't feel the cold," Fura grinned, tossing a ball of flame from one palm to the other. "Snuggle in close of your want to share some heat, Linkie-do."
"Well bless my soul! Visitors at a time like this!" A rather lean woman dressed in thick furs came bounding down the stairs to meet them. She was fairly tall, but not quite as tall as Impa. "And mercy me! What adorable children! Are they yours?" The question was directed at the Sheikah woman, who laughed.
"Oh no!" she chuckled. "Not mine, but I do look after them."
"Well they're just precious!" the woman cooed, pinching the closest available cheek which just happened to be Fura's. The Gerudo's eyes watered as the woman pinched her and smiled. "I expect you'll be wanting some rooms? Ah! But first of all you need to come in by the fire! That's it, this way!" The woman shunted the all along- Impa included, into an adjoining room with a roaring fireplace that made everything swelteringly hot. The room was large and held a number of large leather chairs. The floor above was held up via a number of thick wooden poles still sporting knobbly bark. The floor was covered in a very thick rug with a myriad of designs covering it, most of them having to do with the Triforce.
"Jeez! It's freezing outside, but boiling in here," Link said.
"That's right, nothing like a good fire!" the woman said, slapping Link heartily across the shoulders. He would have been knocked to the floor if Fura hadn't have held him up. Nyara bounded forward and shook herself, dislodging a layer of snow from her fur.
"Nyara like warm fire," she purred, getting impossibly close to the raging flames. "Ark come close too; get warm so he no catch cold."
"I'm warm enough here, Miss Nyara," he told her. "Thank you."
"But it more fun! Sit in front of fire then lie on ground! It feel good!" Nyara insisted, sitting with her back to the fireplace. She turned around and flopped over backwards before quivering on the thick rug.
"I'll try it another time, Miss Nyara," Ark winced. Nyara sat back up and gazed into the fire with a tired expression.
"Okay!" the rather loud woman said, clapping her hands. "Since you're the fist visitors I've had for a while from Gale, there's no shortage of rooms. Ma'am, I'm guessing you're going to be organizing things?" Impa nodded.
"That is correct."
"All right then, just follow me to the front desk and we can get everything sorted!" Impa and the woman went out to the next room to book the rooms whilst the children all huddled in by the fire, though staying a respectable distance from it.
"My goodness it's hot," Ark murmured, removing his cloak and folding it neatly.
"Nyara like hot," the animal girl chirped, turning around. "Ark come closer, heat up back and lie on ground!" She dove at him and caught him a rough hug. Unfortunately for Ark, Nyara's front had become extremely hot from sitting so close to the fire. The heat quickly traveled through his clothes before reaching his skin.
"Ack! Hot!" he yelped. Nyara quickly let go and mewed something of an apology before patting him on the head.
"Ooh, and it's only going to get colder as we go further north," Zelda whimpered, looking out the window at the snow that swirled around outside. "We're going to need some extra warm clothes."
"I'm afraid you're going to have to wear something other than your tunic, Link," Saria told the boy.
"But I like my tunic," he frowned.
"I know you do, but simply sticking a scarf on won't be good enough this time. You can keep your cap on if that will make you feel any better." Link grunted something in response before yawning. "I'm glad you agree."

Impa booked three rooms; one for the boys, one for Saria, Zelda and herself and the last for Fura, Florella and Nyara. The beds were quite big and had generous amounts of furs on them to provide extra warmth in the cold climes, though they could do nothing to prevent the icy feeling of the sheets when people got into them.
"Augh! Ice!" Link shivered, scrunching the thick blanket up to his chin. "It's times like these I envy Fura."
"I can't argue with that," Talen chattered. "Hopefully the wind will drop off a bit tomorrow; that's why it's so cold."
"I wonder what that ice continent is like," Ark mused. "How could people have built a city there?"
"I wonder what the buildings are like," Talen frowned.
"Is that all you think about?" Link asked.
"Food comes in a close second," Talen murmured seriously. The boys laughed as they began to warm up.
"I hope we find the next Lock soon," Ark said as he prepared for sleep. "It's too cold up here."

"Rise and shine!" The loud wake-up call was greatly underappreciated by the three boys as their room was barged into by Fura.
"Mngh, what time is it?" Link asked, squinting at the Gerudo as she stood in the doorway.
"Time for you to get up. The boats leave rather early and we need to get some warmer clothes before we set out. You all have about three minutes to get dressed and get downstairs before I come back up and pull you out myself." Fura's threat was taken seriously, especially on Link's behalf, and the boys were up and about in no time. They staggered down the stairs whereupon they had a hot breakfast composed of porridge thrust in front of them. Link didn't feel like complaining about having gruel for breakfast, so he simply sat in front of the still-raging fire and ate what he was given. The exceptionally loud innkeeper woman then decided to assault their ears by telling them where they could get a change of clothes. So as soon as the three groggy boys had finished eating, they were once again thrust out into the terribly cold outdoors to search for some warmer clothing. Impa led the way based on the innkeeper's directions and soon found the shop she had told them all about. It was rather a small building with a big wooden sign hanging up above the door. The windows had several wooden mannequins standing behind them with an assortment of cold-weather garments adorning them. Without a word, Impa bustled them out of the cold air and into the warm interior of the shop. The girls went about trying on various items of clothing while the boys wandered around trying to locate the least-gaudy outfits they could find.
"Don't they have anything here that doesn't…puff out everywhere?" Talen frowned, scanning a rack of clothing.
"Put any of these on and you'll look like Nyara's shoulders," Link sighed. "Where are all the plain-looking garments?"
"Lost in all of this fuzz," Talen muttered. "I shudder to think of what the ladies are getting."
"Try not to laugh or they'll hurt us."
"Link, Talen…I think I've found some," Ark spoke up from the back corner of the tailor's shop. The two boys walked quickly over to where their grey-haired companion was looking at some nice plain outfits.
"Now these are what we're after," Link grinned in a satisfied manner. "Come on, let's go try them on."

"Oh come on!" Florella complained. "Where are all the big fluffy linings?"
"They don't have any, Florella," Talen said calmly. "We decided to forgo them for the sake of dignity."
"But…" Zelda began.
"Say what you will," Link said, waving his hand. "But we're sticking with these clothes whether you like them or not."
"Ugh, fine," Fura sniffed. "Be boring." The boys were dressed almost the same. They each wore thick pants of varying colour, with Link's as dark green, Talen's as brown and Ark's as grey. Long-sleeved tops were worn by the three of them, with the colours being the same as their pants. The string-tied collars revealed the insides of them to be coated with thick wool for warmth. Underneath they still wore whatever they could of their regular clothing, with Talen wearing his sleeveless shirt, Ark with his undershirt and Link with his tunic.
"And my cap stays on," Link said firmly as Zelda's gaze moved up to it.
"I didn't say anything," she said innocently. "But what about a nice-"
"No. I've seen those ridiculous round fuzzy things you were looking at before and I'll be wearing a dress before I put on one of those."
As far as clothing for the girls was concerned; they practically wore different coloured versions of Zelda's tunic-attire, only they were thicker and had long, white fur-tipped sleeves and rather fluffy collars. Zelda's was white, Florella's was tinged with pink- Link made sure to remark about how ghastly it looked, and Saria's was of the same green-colour as the blonde Hylian's. They had also chosen out matching mittens to keep their hands warm. Zelda had also chosen out a round, white hat composed entirely of fur. She had tucked all of her hair underneath it- save two ribbons of blonde that trailed down by her ears, and she wore it rather proudly. Impa had merely thrown a cloak over her shoulders and put on a pair of tight, lengthened pants. Fura, on the other hand, had chosen clothing just a little bit different to everyone else's. Because she couldn't really feel the cold, the Gerudo was able to forego wearing really thick clothing. She wore a light brown, diagonally-cut skirt that clasped onto a belt-like item around her waist, leaving quite a bit of hip and leg bare on one side. She wore a pair of thin white boots from which a pair of black, gauzy stockings emerged and traveled up under her skirt. Her top was rather flattering to say the least. It was made of the same light brown material as her skirt, but with a purple chest piece trimmed with white fur along the top. The sleeves reached to just above her elbows and the collar was also lined with the same fur as the purple brassiere-like chest. The gold bands around her neck and wrists remained, though from those around her wrists she had hung some white pom-poms with leather cord. In true Fura style, her stomach was visible. Finally; there was Nyara…who still wore nothing.
"Erm…won't you get cold, Fura?" Link asked, eyeing her outfit skeptically.
"Of course not. I don't feel the cold, remember?" she retorted.
"Still…don't you think it's a little…" he groped for the right description. Fura frowned and looked down at her chest.
"What's wrong? Don't you like 'em?" she asked. Link spluttered momentarily while Zelda rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Forget it," he said eventually. "I'm not getting into one of those conversations again."

The cold-weather clothes were paid for and the party left the tailor's without fear of being frozen. It was still quite early, so Impa led the way to the docks to inquire about getting to the ice continent. While Impa spoke with one of the shipmen, Talen decided to have a poke around the ships themselves. The bottoms were quite flat and had metal runners along their length, rather like sleds. On each side they had an outrigger to compensate for the flat hull. The ships themselves were not overly large, indicating that it was a relatively short journey. Florella had to forcibly drag him away so they could go and get their belongings.
"We have to hurry," Impa said as they went back to the inn. "They're going to leave soon so they get a full day's worth of traveling." They got all of their equipment together in record time and dashed back to the docks before paying and boarding one of the ships. Talen couldn't wait to get underway so he could see how well the vessels sailed, while Ark went straight below decks. With the help of a stiff breeze, the ships departed from the docks and sailed smoothly through the icy-cold water.
"I can see why it's called the Crystal Sea," Zelda said as she looked over the side. Chunks of ice floated about like small white crystals, occasionally bumping off the hull. Since they were quite small, there was no danger. Aside from the ship occupied by the group, three other ships sailed along with them carrying cargo and other passengers.
"Zelda, that hat does look just slightly ridiculous on you," Link said as he stood near her.
"I think it looks rather good," she giggled, bringing her mittened hands up under her chin so her face was framed in fur. Link just looked at her with an unreadable expression before returning his attention back to the water.
"Let's just hope nobody decides to bring a Kraken up here," he whistled. "I wouldn't want to fall in water that cold."
"Don't tempt fate," Zelda chided him lightly. "It may come true."
"I don't know about that," Fura sniffed, walking up and leaning on the railing. "I've been thinking about certain things for some time and they've never come true."
"I sense that was directed at me," Link said flatly, turning his head slightly towards the grinning Gerudo. "Shouldn't you be throwing up over the side of the ship right now?"
"Very funny," Fura said, sticking her tongue out at him. "The sea is calm, so my stomach isn't churning as much." Link suddenly seemed to notice something behind her. "Oh, wait there." He quickly slipped off and crept over towards Florella, who was standing near Talen as he looked rather closely at one of the outriggers.
"What is he doing?" Zelda frowned. When Link was behind the fairy, he patted her on the back, causing her to jump.
"Hello Florella," he said cheerfully. "Nice day, isn't it?" He simply turned around and walked away after that.
"What? What did you do?" Florella demanded, twisting around in an attempt to look at her back.
"Nothing," Link called back across the deck. "Nothing at all."
"Don't you "nothing" me! I know you're up to something!" Florella growled. "Talen, what's he done to me?" The smith blinked and looked at her.
"Pardon? I wasn't paying attention," he frowned.
"My back! What's he put on it? I can't see," she told him, jumping up and down.
"Oh…well there's nothing I can see," Talen shrugged.
"Look closer! There must be something there! I felt him do it!" the fairy insisted. Florella's little tirade went on for a few minutes and Link watched with a very satisfied look on his face.
"That was very, very mean," Saria told him sternly from behind, making the boy jump.
"Saria!" he squeaked. "How are you?"
"Don't you play innocent with me," she told him, waving her finger. "Go and see if Ark is all right. It should keep you out of trouble."
"Where's Nyara?"
"She's down there too." Link's shoulders slumped.
"She wants to eat me," Link mumbled.
"Oh she does not!" Saria sighed in an exasperated manner. "All right, maybe she did think you were slightly tasty-looking at Windhill…but that was only because she was in, um…you know."
"She tried to eat me one morni-"
"Just go!" Saria exclaimed, pushing him along.
"All right, all right!" Link muttered, scuttling away. "But if one day you find my remains next to a decidedly fat looking Nyara, then you only have yourself to blame."

Ark was not having the greatest of times. He was feeling decidedly strained since he was out in the sea and the sound of water against the hull could be heard everywhere. He sat upon his bunk fidgeting uncomfortably as Nyara twittered away on the bunk above with one of her odd little songs. But even Nyara's singing did little to calm Ark as he tapped his fingers together nervously. Nyara's head suddenly popped into view upside down from above. She frowned at Ark as he looked at her with his big green eyes.
"Ark still nervous?" The boy nodded.
"I really, really don't like water," he said in a rather small voice. "Especially when there's so much of it…and when it's so cold." Nyara frowned and dropped off the bunk, twisting in midair and landing on her feet. She reached out and let her hand rest on top of his head.
"Nyara help Ark with water one day. Help him to not be scared…so Ark can go swimming with Nyara," she grinned.
"Swimming?" Ark said dubiously. "I…I don't know, Miss Nyara…"
"Swimming lots of fun! Feel of water, feel of floating! Swimming like flying!" Nyara told him. "Ark promise to go swimming with Nyara one day."
"But-"
"Ark promise!" she insisted, holding his face in her hands. "Ark promise to go swimming with Nyara!"
"A-All right then," Ark said. "I promise you, but…I don't know how." Nyara grinned at him.
"Then Nyara promise to teach Ark," she smiled. Ark looked at her for a moment before nodding.
"Nyah!" Nyara yowled gleefully. "Then it deal! When this all over, Ark come back to Nyara's village and swim all day in river! Just Nyara and Ark!"