Chapter 37 - The Great Fairy of Kindness

To the Five he must give aid
Lest time itself become unmade
The Ruler, The Stone, The Thief, The Forest Guide, The One From Deep
With each assisted, with him they shall keep
The One of Many shall hide his face
When the Five doth stand in place
Behind the shadow doth he stand
The power of the Dark God in his hand

The Mermocto attacked first, whipping two tentacles down to the spot where Link, Fura and Talen stood. Had the children stayed a second longer, they would have been killed by the tremendous force of the blow.
"Be careful. Those tentacles are pure muscle," Link told the two of them. "Once it grabs you, it won't let go." Link quickly pressed his face into the Zora mask and transformed before rolling to the side as a tentacle crashed into the ground where he was standing. He saw Talen launching his rock shards at the beast as he strafed the room, creating large wounds as the sharp, heavy pieces of stone tore into its flesh. Fura, in the meantime, had circled around behind the creature while it was being distracted by Talen and hacked off the fin at the end of the mermaid-like tail with a well-aimed Gerudo spin, producing a wail of pain and anger from the monster. The Mermocto spun around to attack Fura, but the girl had darted out of sight before it had a chance to do so. With the creature's back turned, Link now had to chance to attack. He brought both arms up to his chest before whipping them away, sending his boomerang-like fin blades spinning at the Mermocto. They arced through the air and came at the monster from both sides, slicing off two tentacles with a meaty chopping sound before returning to him. The Mermocto bellowed again, turning towards the boy who had just injured it so badly. As the creature lunged after Link, Fura ran at it head on, passing under its belly, and in the process of doing so, brought her scimitars up above her head and tore a long, bloody gash along the Mermocto's underside. It stumbled forwards, whipping at Link with a tentacle as it did so, striking him across his back and sending him rolling forwards.
"Link! You okay?" Fura called in concern.
"I'm fine, just knocked the wind out of me a bit!" he called back, before jumping backwards as the Mermocto tried to attack him again. As the tentacle swept through empty air, Link pivoted and then dashed forwards and delivered two slashes with his fins, followed by a solid kick to the monster's face. It roared in frustration, flinching back violently. Fura took the opportunity to slice away the tentacle that held the disc, causing the artefact to fall onto the ground with a dull thud.
"Watch out!" Link shouted as the Mermocto rounded on her. It brought two tentacles up into the air in preparation to strike, but never got the chance to. Talen gave a fierce battle cry and leaped over Fura's shoulders at the monster, and with both hands spread wide he grabbed the two tentacles as he went over the creature's back. He landed on the ground with a thud, cracking the floor as he did so and then bracing his shoulders. The Mermocto tried to claw at Fura, but Talen held it back, and with a superhuman effort he yanked the monster backwards and sent it crashing into the wall.
"Whoa!" Link hissed. Talen drew his arm back and clenched his fist, and in doing so, created a long stone lance that started at his elbow and ended in a deadly looking point.
"Yaah!" shouted Talen, charging forwards with the lance extended out in front of him. The Mermocto saw him coming and reared up in an attempt to attack, but Talen was too quick for it. As he approached, Talen jumped towards the creature and buried the tip of the lance into its chest with a sickening crunch. The Mermocto stiffened and a fountain of blood erupted from its mouth, then with a great gurgling sigh, it slumped down to the floor of the room and fell silent.
Talen disengaged his arm from the lance and stepped back from the body of the Mermocto.
"Is it dead?" Fura asked, creeping slowly towards the downed monster. Link kicked it in the side of the head to make sure it was before nodding.
"As a doornail, and let's hope it stays that way. I don't want it coming back again," he turned to Fura. "Are you okay?" Fura nodded and clipped her scimitars back in place.
"Thanks to Talen. Speaking of which, that was incredible! Florella is right, you are getting stronger." Talen went slightly red, and then shook it off.
"I'm just glad nobody was hurt," Talen told them. Link pulled off his mask and put it back inside his tunic with a grunt.
"Speak for yourself. I'm the only one here that got hit," he muttered, reaching over his shoulder and touching his back. "Ugh, there's gonna be a mark there, and it'll sting for sure. Oh well, at least nothing's broken."

Fura and Talen waited as Link fetched the others from back up the stairs. The usual questions of whether or not they were all injured followed, and much to Link's relief, nobody mentioned the hit he scored across his back.
"I take it Talen finished the thing off?" Zelda asked, looking over at the dead monster.
"How did you guess?" Talen asked with mock surprise.
"The huge stone spike sticking out of it was a bit of a give away."
"Okay people, shall we see what this thing does?" Florella asked, levitating the stone disc towards the slot in the roof. She rotated it slightly; as the prongs at the back of it found the holes they fitted into, before pushing it into place. There was a great whirring sound from above them and a section of the ceiling about a few metres around the disc lowered towards the pool of water. The platform was circular, and had what looked to be a short pillar in the middle. It clanked to a stop, revealing a hole in the ceiling that led all the way up to the top of the lighthouse. The gears and cogs that wound endlessly suddenly moved and interlocked differently. Everything shook, and the group had to cling to each other to stay upright. Then, with a creaking groan, the roof of the lighthouse folded away to reveal the misshapen eye at the very top. The outside of the eye crumbled away, revealing a flat and brightly coloured eye that stared down at them.
"Look! The moon!" Saria gasped. The moon was in direct alignment with the horizontal eye, shining a deep blue in the now night sky. The eye glowed briefly as the light from the moon shone upon it, and then it suddenly fired a bright beam of energy down at the platform that had descended from the ceiling. It struck the small pillar, which absorbed the energy and began to glow. The energy beam stopped, and a glowing blue bubble formed over the platform.
"Wow," Fura breathed. "There's something you don't see everyday."
"What do you think it's for?" Ruto asked, approaching it carefully. The bubble hummed faintly and little arcs of electricity occasionally ran over its surface.
"Let me look at it first," Impa volunteered. She came forward and carefully poked it with her finger. The surface of the bubbled rippled, and allowed Impa's finger to pass through. Impa quickly withdrew her finger and then pushed her whole hand inside.
"It tingles a bit, but I think it's safe," she murmured. Impa then stepped completely inside the bubble, leaving the surface to ripple back to stillness. The rest of the group slowly entered until they all stood inside the energy bubble.
"Okay, now what?" Link asked out loud. But before anyone could say anything, the world outside the bubble seemed to warp and spin.
"H-hey! What's happening?" Ruto squeaked as she clung to Link's tunic in fright. They felt a momentary feeling of displacement, as if they were moving, and then quite suddenly, everything was still once more. The world outside the bubble had changed. No longer was it the dim room under the lighthouse, but a brightly lit chamber with a sandy floor. They stepped out of the bubble and gazed around in wonder. The room was big, but not nearly as big as under the lighthouse. There were real corners to the room, everything was curved, and the walls seemed to be made entirely of mother of pearl.
"It's beautiful!" Zelda gasped. "But where are we?"
"Seavale, I bet," Fura said, scuffing her feet on the sandy floor. "That device must have sent us here."
"Well I certainly like the taste of the people that built this place," Florella said approvingly. Talen looked like he was about to say something, but Zelda silenced him.
"Talen, please don't spoil things by saying how wrong that architecture is," she said in a pained tone. Talen sighed and said nothing.
Seavale itself was a vast, underwater civilization that was protected by a giant bubble similar to the one that had transported them there. They could see the ocean and the many fish and plants that inhabited it through the protective shield, but it seemed that they couldn't penetrate it. The room that they had been in was part of a temple that resided near the centre of the city. Seavale was built in a circular design, with main streets branching off from the city centre like segments of an orange. Everything seemed to be symmetrical, from the streets to the buildings; if a building was tall on one side of the road, then it had an exact twin on the opposite side. The strangest thing about the place was, however, that it was utterly deserted. Even though nothing seemed to be degrading, nobody roamed the streets, nobody worked in the shops and nobody seemed to live in the houses.
"This is bizarre," Talen murmured. "Nothing seems to be falling apart, but it feels like the place has been deserted for hundreds of years. It should all be a derelict mess."
"What do you think happened to everybody?" Saria asked in a small voice, as if afraid of something.
"Who knows? Maybe they just died out," Fura suggested.
"I don't know. You'd think that people clever enough to build this place couldn't just die out. Maybe a disease wiped them out?" Link mused.
"If that was the case, there would be dead bodies lying around. That's what happens when a plague strikes," Impa told him. "No, there is something else at work here." They moved on through the streets, not really going anywhere specific, when Florella suddenly stopped.
"Wait! I can sense something!" she hissed.
"What is it?" Saria asked. Florella's eyes darted around briefly and then she seemed to locate the source of whatever she was feeling.
"It's that way!" she exclaimed, zipping into the air and shooting off down the street.
For a person so small, Florella could really move when she wanted to. The others had to run at full speed to keep up with the fairy as she zigzagged through the city, eventually stopping in what looked to be a public garden. There were lots of trees and shrubs growing in the garden, with paths made of sand trailing through it. There was a small pond with a few fish swimming about under the surface and small patches of brightly coloured flowers dotted the grassy ground. After a short search, Florella located what she was looking for; a shallow pool surrounded by stone blocks with water running down their sides.
"Look familiar?" Florella asked.
"No," Talen said. "Should it?"
"It's a fairy fountain," Saria told him. "You probably haven't seen one before, but there are a few in the Lost Woods that Link and I know of."
"Almost. This is a Great Fairy's fountain," Florella smiled. "Now I've just got to see if anyone's home." She held out both hands so that her palms were pointing at the shallow pool of water that rippled constantly in the centre of the fountain. She began to whisper some kind of summoning spell, repeating the same words over and over and moving her hands in small circles.
"There, that should do it," she said shortly. Sure enough, the pool glowed softly and the familiar vibrant laugh of the Great Fairy that inhabited the fountain reached their ears as she burst through the surface of the water and showered them with a fine sprinkle of water.
"Oooh, it's good to be out in the open again!" she yawned, stretching her scantily clad body. The Great Fairy looked very much like all the other Great Fairies around Hyrule, save Florella, and her hair was a dark blue colour.
"Oh I'm sorry, where are my manners? I am Aquaea, the Great Fairy of the Sea. Pleased to meet you," she greeted them, shifting her position so that she was lying horizontally in the air with her chin resting on her hands.
"Aquaea? But nobody has heard from you for hundreds…thousands of years! What happened?" Florella asked. Aquaea squinted at Florella.
"Do I know you, little girl?" she queried.
"It's me! Florella! The Great Fairy of Spring!"
"Florella?" Aquaea asked incredulously. "What happened to you? You look like a child!"
"She acts like one too," Link whispered to Fura, who chuckled quietly.
"Please excuse the mouth over there, but first things first; what happened here? Where did everybody go?" Florella demanded of her co-fairy. Aquaea glanced at the people standing around her.
"I'll tell you everything…as soon as you introduce me to everyone. I haven't spoken to anyone for simply ages, and I'm a bit starved for company."

Aquaea led them to a shelter in the garden where they could sit at a table to talk. The Sea Fairy was extremely friendly and had a very perky attitude, possibly due to her seclusion for so many years. She provided them with a bountiful meal and was overjoyed to see Talen and Link eat so much, and she began to practically shove the food into their mouths. She took quite a liking to the pair, irking a few of the girls slightly, especially Florella, who seemed to be a bit overprotective of Talen whenever the boy was in Aquaea's presence. Therefore, she always made quite sure to mention her intention to marry him, embarrassing to boy to no end. Of course, the first time Aquaea heard of this, she picked Florella up in her arms with a squeal of delight and gave her a crushing hug of congratulations before turning on Talen and administering the same to the boy, furthering his embarrassment. Then to make matters worse, word of Ruto's engagement slipped out and Link found himself in the same situation that Talen had been in earlier. Then she noticed Link's tail and her resulting squeal of delight nearly shattered the glasses that they drank from, he was then subject to a repeat performance of Aquaea's hugging.
"Oh, I'm sorry! It's just that I've been alone for all this time I can't control myself!" she apologized with a giggle, dropping the boy.
"That's okay," Link told her awkwardly, glancing at Fura and Ruto. "I'm kinda used to it." Fura pulled her eyelid down and stuck her tongue out at him.
"So Aquaea…what happened to everyone here? Why is Seavale deserted?" Florella asked. Aquaea sighed.
"Well, Little Sister, it happened thousands of years ago," she began. Link's stifled laugh came out as a snort.
"What are you laughing at?" Florella demanded.
"Heh, "little"," he chortled. Florella stamped on his foot, shutting him up.
"Sorry about that, Aquaea. Please continue."
"The people that lived here knew that a great evil was approaching, the evil that you and your friends are trying to stop."
"How do you know that?" Zelda exclaimed.
"I've known it for a very long time, princess. You see, the seers and holy people of Seavale predicted that all of you would arrive here one day, but they knew that they would be long gone by that time."
"Why did that matter?" Link asked.
"They had some important instructions for you, but they feared that in trying to pass them down through the generations, their accuracy would become diluted…as does a message in a game of whispers. So they summoned up a great power and sealed the entire civilization away at the bottom of the ocean, leaving only one person left. That person was an ancestor of Seamus, whose job it was to make sure the way to reach Seavale would be there for you when you arrived in Newfin."
"So everyone…all the people of Seavale are still here?" Talen asked. Aquaea nodded.
"Yes, they are. In the bowels of Seavale lie the fabled gem-fields, the place where the population of this civilization lie, sealed inside crystals that preserve their lives. It is said that they will awaken once the seal is found by the correct member of your group."
"And I bet that's Ruto," Saria said.
"What makes you think that?" Ruto asked.
"Think about it; I'm a Kokiri, and I found my seal in a forest. We're under the ocean and you're a Zora," Saria explained.
"Kinda makes sense, doesn't it," Talen agreed.
"Aquaea, can you show us where the gem-fields are?" Florella asked.
"I sure can, Little Sister! But it'll have to wait until tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? Why can't we just go now?" Florella asked. "Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing's wrong. It's just that the fields are inaccessible at night; there's a curse that prevents people from getting in after dark to steal the gems. It will be safe for us to go there tomorrow morning, so until then…" Aquaea clicked her fingers and the light dimmed until it was almost dark throughout the entire city. A couple of bedrolls appeared in a pile near the table with another click of the Great Fairy's fingers.
"Sleepover!" Aquaea cheered. Talen, in the meantime, was deep in thought.
"Now that's a good idea. You don't have to worry about locks and guards to keep people out, although…" Talen mumbled to himself. Aquaea watched in fascination as Talen got up from his seat and began to doodle diagrams on a sandy pathway that cut through the garden, talking quietly to himself as he did so.
"What's he doing?" Aquaea whispered to Florella. "And why is he talking to himself?"
"Talen's training to be a blacksmith, and as a result he can't seem to help criticising or suggesting ways in which things can be improved," Florella sighed.
"And he's talking to himself because he simply likes intelligent conversation," Link blurted, covering his mouth with his hand immediately afterwards.
"Oh Link, what are we going to do with you?" Saria sighed, shaking her head despairingly.
"I couldn't help it," Link told them lamely.
"We know, poor widdle cutie-wootie uggle-pie," Zelda cooed.
"God, not that again," he groaned, pulling his cap down over his ears.
"Linkie-dinkie gubble-goo," Fura chimed in.
"Euh!"
"Darlin'-warlin' snuggle-dee," Ruto finished.
"Please stop, all of you. You're making me sick with the amount of fluff that's coming out of your mouths. Where did you learn to talk like that? Especially you, Fura, you're supposed to be a mean old Gerudo," Link grumbled. There was silence for a while, and only the sound of Talen mumbling to himself and scratching away in the sand could be heard.
"Linkie-do," Impa murmured.
"That tears it. I'm going to bed; wake me when you manage to scrape your mushy brains into shape so that you can speak coherently." The sounds of laughter followed Link as he stalked away and rolled out the bedding provided by Aquaea.

Something roused Link from his slumber very late at night. The boy yawned loudly and was almost about to drop off to sleep again when something caught his eye.
"Hello," he said in a simple act of recognition.
"Are you awake?" the Fierce Deity's mask questioned him.
"And they call me a smart-alec," Link murmured over another yawn. The mask seemed to smile.
"There is something that I must speak with you about, it will not take long," the mask told him. Link sat up and waited expectantly.
"I attempted to divulge this information to you when you were at sea while you slept, but your subconscious mind rejected it and caused you to shut down."
"You mean when Fura tackled me?" Link asked.
"Correct. But now that you are whole once more, I can finally reveal the truth of your origins," the mask said.
"The truth of my origins? But you are my origins, you made me!" Link protested. The mask sighed.
"No, I didn't. Link, you had a mother, and you had a father. Gedinia didn't take you to the forest, your own mother did."
"But…you said I didn't have a mother! Why did you lie, why didn't you just tell the truth to begin with!?" Link demanded, hot tears brimming in his eyes.
"Because you would have tried to kill Gedinia too soon and you aren't ready for that yet."
"Why would I have tried to kill Gedinia? You mean…" Link's eyes went very wide.
"When Gedinia attempted do destroy you when you were a mere baby, your father combined with me to protect you and your mother. We succeeded to some extent, and managed to banish Gedinia from this world, and that is why she can't appear so long as we both exist. However, your father was killed and your mother seriously wounded, Gedinia also managed to confine me to this mask and send me to Termina before she was banished."
"I would have preferred it you hadn't have told me anything! You could have said nothing at all!"
"I had to tell you something; otherwise the connection between us would have been lost. You see, you have to believe that there is common ground between the two of us in order for the merging to work. We were able to combine to defeat Majora's Mask because we both wanted to get back to Hyrule so badly, you to find your fairy Navi, and I to defeat Gedinia."
"So you got me to believe that I was a tool? A weapon made by a God to fight a war? I hate you! Why did you choose me? Why!?" Link demanded crossly.
"I had no control over it, destiny chooses those most deemed fit for the tasks appointed to them. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't beyond your abilities, just think about your friends for a moment. They, along with everything else, would be nothing by now had you not taken up this journey…would you rather have given up and condemned all of your friends?"
"No," Link said in a voice barely above a whisper.
"Well now, just keep your friends close to your heart and you cannot fail. I'm sorry, but you had to know what I just told you. Keep safe, Link," the mask told him. The eyes on the mask stopped glowing and it settled itself down on Link's bedding. The boy looked at it for a while before staring at his hands. A sob escaped his throat and fled from where his companions lay, half blinded by hot salty tears.

Link wandered aimlessly for some time before he wound up at the edge of the pond. There he stood in silence, sniffing loudly every so often and reaching up to wipe away his tears with his wrist.
"Do you want some company?" he heard a soft voice ask him. Link spun around and saw a young woman watching him. She had dark eyes, long purplish hair and a pair of delicate wings protruding from the back of a white dress that flowed down to her bare feet.
"Florella?" he sniffed. "Is that you?"
"Yes, it's me, or what I will be eventually. This form won't last long, but you need a bit of comforting that only someone this size can give." The fairy walked up to his side and kneeled on the grass beside him. She was a good deal taller than he was when she was standing and an air of peace and calm seemed to emanate from her.
"Why?" Link asked sullenly.
"Because I like you, and you've been neglecting these feelings for quite some time. We need to get them out in the open."
"What are you talking about?"
"I heard your conversation earlier," she told him. "It must have been difficult to accept."
"You think?" Link laughed bitterly. "The Deku Tree told me my parents had died when I was a baby, but I never knew that they were killed."
"But you're still alive, and so are we thanks to you."
"But it was my fault they died! It was me Gedinia was trying to get to, not them! I should have done something!" he choked, his voice getting thicker with each passing second.
"You were only a baby, what could you have done? Your parents sacrificed themselves so that you could be happy, and something like that doesn't go unrewarded. They're probably looking down at you right now, thinking about how you've grown, how brave you've become and how perfect you've turned out," Florella told him comfortingly. The boy said nothing, but hung his head as fresh tears began to drip onto the ground. Florella held her arms out to him and beckoned for him to go to her. Link almost staggered as a wave of kindness and love swept over him, smothering his anger and sadness.
"Don't fight it, Link. Just let it happen; you'll feel all the more better if you do." He felt his wits being covered in a warm haze, and he suddenly found himself unable to hold his sadness in any longer. He staggered forwards, almost collapsing onto the ground, but Florella caught him and enfolded him in a caring embrace. She tightened her grip slightly, causing him to exhale deeply, and it seemed that with that breath, all of his grief came pouring out.
"I-I want my mother!" he cried, letting Florella draw him closer to her. "I want my father!"
"I know, I know. Let it all out, dear boy, I'm here," she crooned, rocking him gently.
"I-I thought that they abandoned me…w-when the Deku Tree Sprout told me that my m-mother left me in the forest. But they did love me, they loved me more than anyone!" he sobbed, shaking uncontrollably. "Don't go, Florella."
"Shhhh," she whispered softly. "I won't go; I'll stay with you for as long as you want." Florella began to hum the Spring Melody quietly as she stroked Link's tousled hair with one hand. The boy's grief-stricken frame soon stopped shaking and he grew very drowsy under the Great Fairy's treatment. "You've got a lovely voice…and you're so nice and warm…I'm so tired…" Link mumbled, before drifting off into a peaceful sleep.
Navi came flitting over to where they were, obviously roused by her partner's absence. Florella raised a finger to her lips to silence the fairy in case she intended to say anything. Navi nodded and instead settled herself underneath his cap. Florella smiled, folding her wings around so that they covered the boy like a protective blanket.
"Sweet dreams, dear boy," Florella murmured, kissing the top of his head before continuing to hum the Spring Melody into the night.