"Hey, move it kid! I'm sitting here!"
"Oh, pardon me, sir."
The archery tournament was not a particularly crowded event, but there were enough people there for it to be bustling. Nearly every spot on the pavement surrounding the tournament was either occupied, or being walked upon.
"Y'know, for a dying civilization, this place sure is packed. These people must love their archery!"
"Quiet, Saria! You don't want anyone seeing you talking to yourself, they might see me!"
"Right, sorry. We need a good place to watch from, I can't see over all these these tall people."
Saria slowly plowed through the crowd, or rather, let the crowd plow through her as she searched for a good vantage point. Every time she found an open plot of ground, either someone promptly seized the spot, or it did not offer a pleasant view of the event, instead, the backs of people's heads. Everyone was greedy to see the competition, pushing and shoving at each other for no particular reason. It was a rough crowd, and Saria wanted no part of it. She looked around for some place of refuge, and was happily greeted by one as she looked across the clearing. A tree! Trees were the best of friends to forest children like her, offering shade, something to climb, and even a nice place to sit.
"Yes! A tree! No need to sit in this crowd!"
After trudging her way through the pushing arms of the storming crowd, she leapt up the tree so quick, that a bystander would have thought she had flown into it like a bird. She pulled herself on top of the thick branches of the oak, and sat in comfort. She could see over everyone, straight into the cleared area that made up the tournament grounds.
"Perfect! Up here, I don't think anyone will notice you, Mari. We have a perfect view of Link!"
"If you say so, but I'm still staying on your shoulder. I don't wanna take any chances."
"Suit yourself, I'm going to enjoy my privacy!"
Saria spread her arms out, and relaxed upon her leafy wooden seat.
"Just around the boxes, young man."
Upon entering the tournament clearing, Link found the other contestants, five counting himself, practicing on various targets. There was a burly middle aged man, who was restringing his bow, two lookalike men, presumably brothers, competing with each other to see who could draw their arrows the quickest, and a little girl, about his age, just sitting. They all payed him about as much mind as much as he did them. Link decided he would test out his new bow, oddly enough stolen from a dead man, to make sure it would not falter during the competition.
He gave the string a good flex, the wood bent smoothly, no creaks or groans. Whoever previously owned the bow had taken marvelous care of it, there was naught a scratch on it. The string itself looked like it had seen better days, however. It was not especially tight, and looked as though it might pop if he pulled much harder. That was a problem that would need to be fixed, there appeared to be replacement stings next to where the big man was sitting. Link walked up to the pile of boxes next to the heavyset, and started to dig through them.
"Hey kid, ya looking for another string?"
Despite his rough appearance, the man had a kind voice. He nodded to him, and the man set down his own bow and pulled out a spool.
"There ya go, sport, don'tcha go loosing it! Hyeh hyeh."
Link smiled at the man's courteousness, and began at once to repair his bow. He put his foot on the flimsy string and pulled up on the bow with one hand. With his other, he slid the string's loop down the body of the bow, then removed his foot. With minimal effort, he removed the now limp string and discarded it.
"You look like you know your way around that thing, forest boy!"
This voice was not that of a man, this voice came from a young girl! Link looked up from his business and was met with a girl about his height, with brown hair and a blue dress.
"You are a forest kid, aren't you? I've heard about them from stories, they always wear green, don't they?"
It was the girl who was sitting in the corner. Instead of responding to her, Link continued the process of restringing his bow, ignoring her.
"Okay, tough guy, what's your name? Mine is Martha."
"Link..."
The boy cut the string after carefully measuring it, then tied its ends into loops.
"So Link, do you know her? That girl over in that tree? With the crazy green hair?"
Tree? Green hair? Link looked to where Martha pointed and found Saria cradled in an old oak. That was Saria alright, always in the trees.
"So you do know her, hm? Why does she have such green hair? Are you both forest kids? Do you live in tree houses like the stories say? Is it true that you all have fairies?"
This girl seemed to know a remarkable amount about the Kokiri, where would have she heard so much about them? Link continued to ignore her, he slipped one loop of the string down the body of the bow, and the other onto the end of the bow. He put the tip of his foot on the string, and pulled up on the bow to flex it, giving him enough slack to slide the other loop into place.
"Tell me, Link, are you and her brother and sister... or boyfriend and girlfriend?"
Link's foot slipped and the bowstring snapped up, popping him in the face. He stumbled to the ground and rubbed his chin, now he would have to start over again. A giggle flew from Martha's mouth, and Link glared at her like she had been the one who knocked him over.
"Okay, so you're just friends, heehee! You're funny, forest boy, you know that?"
Link was not laughing. He stood back up and looped the string around the body of the bow again.
"Well, whatever. I should let you know one thing though, before you get your hopes too high."
Martha drew her bow and without aiming, shot an arrow across the clearing. It sailed across the grass, then landed straight in the bullseye of a target, about twenty meters off.
"I'm gonna win."
"Hello! Hello! Attention!"
The skinny man who had been running the booth now stood on a stage, holding a large cone shaped object in front of his mouth to project his voice. Spectators and participators alike now had their attention on the man.
"Welcome to Plurbiocris's fifth annual archery tournament!"
A roar of cheers and applause escaped from the crowd. Saria sat up from her spot in the tree and started whooping herself.
"Oh, it's starting Mari! It's starting!"
"Now, while attendance may be at an all time low, we're not going to let that get us down! Contestants to the shooting lanes!"
All the lanes were numbered, Link chose the one assigned to him, row three. In each lane sat a box, and on each box, ten arrows. Across from each lane was a target, all an equal distance away, about fifty meters.
"The rules are very simple, fire only when I tell you to, hit only your target. Failure to comply will result in immediate disqualification. Scoring goes as such; you land the target, you get a point, you land the bullseye, you get three points, you miss, you get nothing. Now, archers ready!"
The four other contestants drew their bows at the same time, Link drawing his a moment later.
"Aim!"
Everyone brought their bow up to their eye, and set their sights on the target.
"Fire!"
Five arrows soared across the field, one missed its target, three landed theirs, one of which was Link, and the last made a bullseye. Link traced the arrow to find its shooter, and was met with Martha. A bullseye already? She was not kidding around.
"Ready! Aim! Fire!"
Again, five arrows flew, Link's landed a bullseye this time, and so did Martha. She couldn't keep this up the entire round, could she? He glanced over at her, she looked back at him and smirked a winner's smile.
"Ready! Aim! Fire!"
Could he keep this up too? Both landed bullseyes yet again. In order for Link to win, she would have to miss at least once, assuming he made entirely bullseyes. Over the next four volleys, both consistently hit their mark, but on the next shot, Martha missed one. So she couldn't keep it up the entire time. They were now tied. She just needed to falter once more and then Link would win. By then, the other contestants had been left in the dust, each scoring but one or two bullseyes up to that point. Only two arrows remained, who would be the victor? Link looked at Martha again, to find that she was staring at him with a different grin, a more eerie one. What was she up to?
"Ready! Aim! Fire!"
Distracted by her gaze, Link found that he had missed his target altogether. He just blew the competition. Unless by some off chance she missed on her last arrow, he would lose.
"Ready! Aim! Fire!"
The crowd went wild as Link made a bullseye, but that did not matter. Now he would not be able to fulfill his quest. He had let down Mandgrova, now the population of Plurbiocris would surely fall to famine, because of him. Not only that, but he was likely to never see Navi again, her being his chief motivation in taking the quest in the first place. He hung his head low with guilt, failure was never an option for him.
"Hold your horses, folks! It looks like we have a tie!"
A tie? Link's face shot back up in surprise. An arrow sat at the side of Martha's target. She had missed? Was she... toying with him? He looked back over at the girl, she wore the same smile as before.
"Get those two another arrow! It's time for sudden death!"
Two of the skinny man's associates ran up to the tie holders. Both carried a quiver, and handed one arrow to each child.
"We go until someone misses! Ready! Aim! Fire!"
Link hit the dead center of his target, and watched in awe as Martha missed once again. Yet, all the same, the girl still smiled. The people around roared with excitement, but over it all, he could hear Saria's cheers.
"Yeah! Go Link! Wooooo!"
Saria let loose all of her energy, and jumped on the tree happily. The branch she was standing upon, much to her dismay, was not the sturdiest. It soon gave way beneath her repeated gravitational barrage, and she fell through the tree. Mari jumped from her shoulder and looked down in disbelief.
"Saria!"