Chapter Thirty One – The awkward family reunion
I can't seem to explain it, but I feel really tired lately as if I've been up all night instead of sleeping. I keep having these dreams where I'm pretending to be Sheik, but I know that's not possible since I never met him before. I really wish I would sleep better at night, but I just can't seem to get comfortable. I'm constantly finding sand in my clothes and I don't understand where it's coming from.
On a separate note, I've been getting a strange feeling someone is following Sheik. I'm not sure how to explain this feeling, but I haven't been wrong about my feelings before, so I'm going to try and get a message to him and warn him about the danger. Hopefully it makes it to him in time.
When Link finally started to wake up he was still too tired to open his eyes very well, but noticed the room he was in was shaking violently, and there was a very loud noise right in his ear. As he tried to move he realized he wasn't able to move the lower part of his body. At first he thought he might have been paralyzed, but as he woke up more he realized there was a very overweight man sharing a very tiny bed with him, and the man was cuddling up to him and snoring exceedingly loud; to the point it was shaking the entire house they were in.
Using all his strength he finally managed to move the man's heavy arm off him and he was able to stand up and look around. The man in the bed seemed familiar, and it took Link a moment to remember who he was. It was Malon's dad, Talon, and for some reason he wasn't at home with his daughter, but instead was sleeping here. After all these years he was still a terrible father.
"Oh you're awake." A very large and busty woman said as she turned from her cooking pot and noticed he was up. "Your friend dropped you off here a few days ago and you were in bad shape, but I managed to tend to you wounds and now you should be feeling much better. Some guards came here looking for you, but I told them you left for the castle already."
Link still wasn't fully awake to focus, and he couldn't remember all the details from the fight with Bongo Bongo, but he could remember the feeling of falling and hitting something hard, but everything else from that fight was a blank. His body had no pain, so it appeared the woman really helped heal him; but he completely missed what was said about the castle guards looking for him.
"So, what's your name?" she asked inquisitively, but after a moment of silence she realized he wasn't going to respond, so she continued. "Quiet type, huh? I can understand. I've been living here alone for a very long time, so I opened my house up to people who were in need. I'm always willing to do my best to help those around me. Unfortunately, it does make you vulnerable to people that just want to take advantage of you for your kindness. Take the man asleep in the bed you were just in. He's been here for about a month now, and all he does is sleep and occasionally he'll wake up to get drunk, and then he goes right back to sleep. I would like to ask you to wake him up and get rid of him for me. I don't care where he goes; I just want to see him leave."
Moving back over to the bed he wondered how he should wake Talon up. His snoring was really loud, so loud noises wouldn't wake him up. He decided to try and push him out of bed, but Talon was just too heavy to move. After watching Link's many failed attempts she walked over and smacked Talon in the face with a frying pan, then forced Link to take it, then walked away.
"WHAT IN TARNATION!" Talon shouted. "Can't a man get a little shut-eye around here?"
Looking around with a dazed look on his face he suddenly spotted Link. "What do you want kid?" Talon said sourly with a stare that showed he wasn't fully awake, and seemed to have a hangover from his last drinking session. "Well I seem to be awake now, thanks to you kid. I guess if I'm up I might as well have a few drinks."
Talon sat up and climbed out of bed, but instantly fell to the floor hard. "Ow, the floor is moving again." He said as he pulled himself back up and began wobbling around the room for a few moments until he reached a nearby table and sat down. "I'll take your strongest milk, you old hag." Talon said to the woman.
Link wasn't sure if he imagined it or not, but it felt like there was a sudden chill in the air as the room became completely silent. The normally friendly woman instantly stopped focusing on what she was cooking by the fire and gave a look to Talon that almost gave Link a heart attack from fear.
"YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT AFTER ALL YOU'VE PUT ME THROUGH!?" The woman picked up a knife and moved over to the table he was now sitting at and pointed the knife in his face. "This kind boy was trying to ask you nicely to go back to your own home so you can get out of my house. You've been freeloading for far too long, and I've had it with you!"
"Now listen here woman!" Talon said angrily. He had a drunk stare and tried to move his gaze up to the woman's face, but was having trouble lifting his eyes above her chest. "I left that ranch in the care of Mr. Indigo, since he enjoyed doing all my work. As long as he's there I can sleep as much as I want, and I choose to use your house. You should feel privileged to have me taking up your bed."
The lady and Talon suddenly got into a huge argument and Link was left standing there unable to do anything to help. With no way to voice his own opinion on the matter all he could do was leave, so he decided to head to Lon Lon Ranch in hopes he could figure out what was really going on.
As he was leaving Kakariko Village he realized it had been a few days since he last saw the scientist at Lake Hylia, and the medicine was sure to be ready by now. Deciding to put off his visit to the ranch for just a little bit he began heading all the way back to Lake Hylia.
When Link arrived at the Lake he noticed a strange man pacing outside the lake laboratory, and as Link drew closer the man was startled to see someone else there. He seemed to be troubled by something, and after a moment of silence the man looked at Link and said, "I could really use some help right now, and you're the only one around, so I'm hoping you'll be willing to help me."
Link was really good at helping people, and it was part of the job being a hero to make time for those in needs, so he nodded and allowed the man to go into his spiel. "When I was younger I dreamt of becoming a fisherman, but my father wanted me to become a scientist like himself. My mother realized my dream and allowed me to move to a small secluded pond at the far side of the lake where I could enjoy being a fisherman. She also enchanted a scarecrow and told my father he somehow turned me into it, and ever since then he's been trying to turn it back to normal.
"A few years later my mother felt she needed to move to Kakariko Village to help the people there with her potions, but my father didn't want her to go. She told me before she left how she enchanted a shark, and made him think it was her so she would be able to leave without any trouble. I thought everything was good, but yesterday morning I found her body floating in my pond. I'm now trying to tell my dad what happened, but I don't think I could face him alone. Would you be willing to join me while I go in to talk to him?"
Link nodded and joined the man to the front door of the laboratory. The man knocked on the door and the old scientist cracked open the door and whispered, "Who's there?"
The fisherman was nervous to speak at first, but reluctantly he swallowed hard and tried his best to speak. His voice was very shaky at first and a bit high pitched, but he was at least talking to his dad. "I-I'm y-your…" his voice lost confidence for a moment before he concluded with, "…son."
He waited a moment to see how his dad would react to the news. "I can't understand a word you're saying." The old man said with an annoyed tone in his voice as he tilted his head back inside his house a bit and began to yell. "MY WIFE NEVER SHUTS UP LONG ENOUGH FOR ME TO HEAR WHAT PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO TELL ME!"
Link quickly realized the scientist was still yelling at the dead shark, but the fisherman seemed unfamiliar with what was going on, and appeared to be really bothered by the yelling. Before the fisherman could say anything else the scientist noticed Link and instantly recognized who he was.
"I'm sorry; I didn't realize it was you that was knocking on my door. I'm so glad you returned." The scientist said happily as he invited them inside. "I finished the order you requested, but I need you to let the goron know he can only take one drop a day or he could get very sick. I made this very potent, so it should last him a very long time."
The fisherman seemed surprised to see his dad knew Link, but was more relieved since his dad didn't slam the door shut in his face. They followed the scientist through his extremely messy house and weaved in and out of tight paths until they reached the fish tank where the dead shark was once again. The old man seemed to be trying to sneak by the tank, but suddenly he jumped in fear, and then winced as he turned to face the tank. "NO I WASN'T TRYING TO SNEAK BY WITHOUT INTRODUCING YOU TO OUR VISITORS. I WAS JUST ABOUT TO TELL YOU WE HAVE GUEST, BUT YOU NEVER GIVE ME A CHANCE TO DO ANYTHING ON MY OWN, WOMAN!"
The yelling seemed to be bothering the fisherman, and he seemed to try and get the old man's attention, but it wasn't working. After a moment the son seemed to have had enough and ended up yelling himself, "WILL YOU STOP YELLING AT THAT SHARK? MOM IS DEAD, AND I CAME HERE TO TALK TO YOU!"
The scientist stopped yelling and turned to look at the fisherman. At first it appeared his son was finally getting through to him, but it quickly became obvious that didn't happen. "I need you to follow me." He said pointing to Link, then turned to his son and continued, "And I want you to stay here and distract my wife so she doesn't find out what we're up to."
Link followed the old man further back into his messy house. The fisherman looked very angry as they walked away and left him standing by the giant fish tank. It was hard for Link to keep up with the old man due to large mess, but after traveling through another maze of garbage they reached a small table with lab equipment on it. The old man went over and picked up a star shaped vial of blue liquid and handed it to Link.
Just as the old man was about to say something to Link, there was a loud sound of glass shattering, then the entire house began to shake violently. Suddenly a giant wall of rushing water came bursting forth as the walls of trash were pushed towards them. Before they could comprehend what was happening they were swept up in the rushing water and trash as they were thrown across the room.
When the water finally calmed down Link found he was covered in a large pile of wet trash. He pushed some of the larger items out of his way and stood up to look around. The entire laboratory was destroyed, and the remaining amount of water was rushing out the front door where the fisherman stood holding the door open. Link climbed over the trash and made his way across the room to the fisherman.
"I know what you're thinking, but it was the only way to make my dad stop believing that shark was my mom. My mom told me how the enchantment will be broken if the enchanted item was no longer around the person placed under its effects, so I made sure the shark was sent out the front door and into the lake. I may have let my anger get the best of me when I shattered the tank, but now there's no way the enchantment will be working. He should…" His voice trailed off as he frantically looked around the room and realized his dad was nowhere to be seen, and was most likely still trapped under the trash.
After a few minutes of searching through the mess the fisherman started to fear he may have just killed his dad. As they stood up to go search in another area they both ended up jumping when they turned around and noticed he was standing right behind them without saying a word. The old man was completely dry, and somehow managed to avoid getting hit by the water that flooded his entire lab.
"Dad, I need to talk to you about mom." The fisherman said. "I found her body floating in my fishing pond."
The old man began to focus on the fisherman, and then responded, "I have no idea who you are, and it seems you're confused on who you think I am. My son was turned into a scarecrow that lives outside, and I've yet to figure out a way to change him back. My memory seems foggy about my wife, but I feel like she left me a long time ago, but if you're saying you think she's dead then I need to talk to her and see what happened."
A puzzled look came across the fisherman's face for a moment, but quickly changed as the realization of what he was talking about came to mind and worry filled his eyes. "You can't be talking about taking frog eyes. Mom warned me about those things, and how they let you see things that aren't there. They amplify your subconscious to the point you think voices are talking to you."
"That's not what they do." The old man said as he ate one. "They let you talk to the dead, and I'm going to prove it to you."
The fisherman realized he wasn't going to get through to him as long as his dad didn't recognize him as his son, so he picked up a metal rod that was lying on the floor and left the house. Link continued to stand there unsure what he was supposed to do, but suddenly the old man started to talk to someone that wasn't there.
"Does anyone know what happened to my wife?" he asked as he looked around the room. "Oh, she's here. That's good."
There was a long pause, and then he continued talking again. "Of course I remember how you said you were going to move to Kakariko Village. Did something happen to you there?"
There was another long pause, but this time his face became very angry as he started to yell, "THOSE PEOPLE LET YOU DIE! I'M NOT GOING TO STAND FOR THIS!"
After another moment of silence he responded once again, "Yes, I agree. The only option is to eliminate the entire town."
Link didn't like what he was hearing, so he decided to leave the house and head back to Death Mountain to deliver the medicine to the goron. As he was leaving the laboratory he glanced over to the scarecrow and saw the fisherman was beating the scarecrow to death with the metal rod he picked up. It was obvious wasn't anything else he would be able to help them with, so he continued on his way once again.