Be Calm.
Lightning crashed against the night sky, lighting up the dark clouds in a clash of purple light. Dirt turned to mud, clinging to the shoes of the panicked villagers as the great winds tore up the earth beneath their feet.
The sounds of birds screeching pierced her ears as she stared, frozen to the spot, at the carnage encasing her quiet island.
There is much about this town she hates. Little things really. Most of the people, the school, the isolation… But there are also things she loves about it. The animals, the bright blue sky on a cool summer's day, Link….
Link… he is the most important thing to her, she decides, he is her brother, she loves him above all else.
Her eyes fell, widened in horror to the crumpled pile of red and white feathers at her feet, the white feathers stained red in several places and her hands shook as her eyes landed on the broken body of the boy, her brother, torn and still against the feathered chest of the bird.
Correction. She loved him.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me." The small island was bustling with people, all rushing through the crowded streets to finish preparing for the upcoming ceremony in time. It made her skin crawl.
"Shame on you, Kella." Kella's ears pricked at her own name as she turned to watch Zelda put a hand on her hip in mock indignation. "How irresponsible to be using such vulgarities in front of a lady."
Kella snorted and shoved the smaller girls grinning face away. "Get away from me." She laughed. "You're gonna make me feel even closer to death than I already am."
Zelda huffed a little as she twirled the skirt of her new dress side to side. 'I envy her.' Kella's smile grew solemn as she turned to watch the fluffy white clouds drift past her. 'She'll grow up to do great things. She and Link will probably be married by the time they're my age. She'll probably take over the school when old Gaepora retires.' Her face shifted into a sour look as she felt her own bitterness rise up to her chest. 'Unlike me. I'll probably die bored on this hunk of rock having never done anything interesting with my life.'
Zelda seemed to pick up on her downward spiral and before she could gather herself, she could feel the younger girl's fingers slip between her own. "What is it?" Zelda stared up at her with an expression that was equal parts stern and concerned. "And don't lie to me," Kella sputtered a little as the girl poked her finger into her chest sharply. "You know I'll see through any excuse you come up with." Kella exhaled, her shoulders sagging as her body started to look as tired as she felt.
"I don't know..." Kella ran her fingers through her hair, feeling way too vulnerable to be having this conversation. "I'm just… tired. I'm so fucking tired." Zelda's face turned down into a frown as she leaned forward to study her face carefully.
"Have you been sleeping at all!?" Her voice sounded shrill and accusatory to Kella's ears. Despite it's caring and well-meaning nature it is more than enough to cause the girl to bristle.
"Well, it's not like I don't try!" Kella snapped sharply, her shoulders lifting into a defensive posture. Kella regrets her words immediately as she watches a look of hurt and bewilderment flash across Zelda's face. 'She's just worried about you.' You scold yourself internally. 'Nice going, you can't even let her have one nice day without ruining it with your tantrums, can you?' Kella's hands shoot up to her head quickly as she inhaled sharply, her lips forming a tense line as her anger at herself rises. Kella glanced down at her small friend as she hears the gasp her quick motions illicit and felt her chest constrict with guilt. She curled her fingers into her hair for a moment, resisting the urge to yank out the golden locks she forced a deep breath into her body and swallowed the lump in her throat as she locked eyes with her.
"I'm sorry. Really sorry." Kella cracked her knuckles and started to pull at her fingers, a bad habit, she had been told, but that didn't matter much to her. "That was uncalled for." Kella's face was flooded with so many emotions swirling in her eyes that Zelda could only make out a mix of two: guilt and regret. "I didn't mean it, I'm just really tired and being a bitch." She huffed out an irritated snort as she heard the distant cheers as the day's celebrations began.
"It's this day…" She leaned against the wall of the statue of the Goddess and felt her shoulders relax a little. "Big ceremonies like this just bug me, they're so dumb." She huffed dramatically and Zelda's face softened a little. The concern was still there, heavy and palpable. The two girls had been like sisters for most of their lives and as well as Zelda could read her, she had an even easier time telling what was going through the younger blonde's mind.
"You only say that because you're too edgy to be able to tolerate anyone being happy." Kella was grateful for Zelda's attempt to dissuade the situation. Breaking thick tension in a room with humour was usually one of Kella's best moves but Zelda was a quick study and Kella was all too eager to play along.
Kella's laugh was dry and humourless, but her eyes were shining with amusement and a glint of mischief. "Oh yeah? Like how happy Link is gonna be when he sees you in that?"
As if she had spoken a magic word, Zelda's face immediately heated up and turned bright red. "I-I don't know what you mean!" She looked away with a huff, her cheeks turning darker by the minute.
"Hey, I only said he would be happy to see you!" Kella smirked.
Zelda huffed, shooting a glare her way. Her expression changed suddenly as a new thought seemed to have struck her. She slowly glanced up at Kella with a very serious look on her face. "Look, I know you don't want to go to the ceremony, but- "
"I never said that." Kella interrupted. "I don't… mind going, per say, if it's for the pair of you." She ruffled her hair before sighing heavily as she turned to stare out into the swath of clouds covering the sky, her hand falling to palm the rough texture of the fence bordering the dock, and a forlorn expression flitting across her features. "I just…. Wish there was somewhere else I could go. Something more to my life than just…." She gestured vaguely around her. "This!"
"What more are you looking for?" Zelda asked hesitantly as she pushed herself up to sit on the fence, watching the girl with a furrowed brow.
"I don't know. Something. Anything!" Kella groaned in frustration. "I just wish there was somewhere else I could go, something new to see or some new people to meet. I'm already 25 and I feel like I've done everything there is to do here." She let out a long breath through her nose. "This place seems big and magical when you're a kid, but once you become an adult it's all so boring." Kella shook her head. "Sorry. I know I shouldn't be complaining. It's just lately I can't help but feel like there has to be more to our world then just this."
Zelda opened her mouth to comfort her but Kella carried on over her. "I'll get over it." Kella smiled brightly at the girl. "Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and there'll be some sort of tragedy." She wriggled her fingers in the air with a smirk as she started to walk away. "I could always create one. How big of a tantrum do you think Groose would throw if I cut off his pompadour?"
Zelda didn't laugh, her face was scrunched up, deep in thought. "What if… what if there is somewhere like that? Something more to our world!" Kella sighed, rubbing her temples.
"Zel, Hun, really it's fine. I'm just going through a minor quarter-life-crisis. Besides," She spread her arms wide. "This is all there is." She shrugged resolutely. "I better get used to it."
"Kella, that's not what I mean. "Zelda tried to explain, eyes big. "I think there might be-" Zelda was cut off by the pitter patter of hesitant footsteps and the two girls turned towards the sound as Link stumbled into view.
His hair was a mess of tangles and curls and his clothes were wrinkled and disheveled. He looked like he had just rolled out of bed, and knowing Link he probably had. "Hey, Zelda." He smiled a little shyly, his cheeks tinted the faintest pink. "I, uh, got your letter."
"Well, that looks like my cue to leave." Kella pushed herself dramatically away from the fence and waltzed backwards towards the edge of the platform. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do." She winked at the two before diving backwards off of the platform and into the clouds below.
She closed her eyes and felt all the tension melt away as her body fell through the clouds at a high speed. The wind shot around her neck and ears painfully as she felt her body shoot down through the clouds. The feeling felt nice, bleak as it was to enjoy falling to your death, she couldn't help but feel relaxed, like the wind was pushing all of her worries out of her mind and away with the wind.
She heard a familiar indignant squawk and rolled her eyes slightly, a faint smile slipping across her features as a streak of pink and blue dived past her and swept under her. Kella rolled onto her stomach just in time to land on her loftwing's back. "Hey Barth." She cooed, reaching forward to gently scritch under his white chin. Her loftwing's base colour was a soft shade of rose with a white underbelly and teal feathers bordering his back and wings.
She nuzzled the back of his neck affectionately as she placed a gentle kiss to his feathers, the presence of her companion bird enough to make her nerves calm down a little more with each passing moment. She gently guided the bird into a lazy U-turn. As Barth drifted slowly over the Bazaar, she gathered her feet under her and took a deep breath to steel herself before jumping off of the bird's back, tensing her muscles as she landed heavily against a thick tree branch north of the Bazaar. The twigs and branches left scratches in her arms and tore a few nicks into the thin material of her pants which she made bigger as she hastily yanked herself free but she didn't mind.
She sat in the tree for a few more minutes, kicking her feet lightly as she got her bearings before she shimmied oh so elegantly down the trunk, landing with a mild stumble on her feet. She looked around and quickly clasped her hands behind her back, leaning against the tree and trying to look casual as she spotted the headmaster squinting at her suspiciously as he passed her on the way to the plaza.
"Nice to see you, Kella." Kella's smile was practiced and well-rehearsed as she nodded at the headmaster.
"Wouldn't miss it!" Kella's teeth were half-gritted and her voice sounded fake even to herself, but she hid the strain behind a forced smile and that seemed to satisfy the man enough. Her body remained stiff until Zelda's father had moved on to the crowd of villagers all too eager to socialize and gossip with him before the ceremony began. She shuddered at the mere thought of having to deal with small talk from the nosy villagers as she relaxed her shoulder blades against the sharp bark of the tree, crossing her ankles together as she leaned back.
"Your lying's gotten worse." Is it possible for the human body to react of its own volition just from certain sounds alone? Kella certainly believed so. How else would her father be able to illicit such intense eyeroll's and defensiveness from her just by existing near her.
"Hello father." She turned slightly towards him, still leaning lazily against the tree. "Lovely day, innit'?" She always tried to joke with him, not that it ever worked, she internally remarked with a snort.
"Yes, quite lovely." He leaned next to her against the tree, his eyes darting to scrutinize her. "It's nice to see you out and about for a change." Kella couldn't stop herself from loudly groaning, painfully aware that she was acting like a bratty teenager but she didn't care. He had that affect on most people who happened to be his daughter.
"I've been busy." She huffed, crossing her arms.
The man scoffed dismissively. "Busy? With what?" He narrowed his eyes. "Certainly not that job I got for you. Pumm tells me you quit. Again."
"You asked my boss about me!?" Kella almost shrieked, turning her hot glare on him, her tone dripping with disbelief and indignation.
"Keep your voice down!" He snapped sharply under his breath, his clipped tone enough to shut her up. "We're in public, or did you not notice?"
She sighed exasperatedly, rubbing at her eyes. "Whatever… Sorry. I'll… talk to him about it. Try to smooth things over." She said, itching to put an end to this conversation as soon as possible. It's a lie. They both knew that much, but not an obvious enough one for him to call her out on it. So, he settled on something he always felt comfortable calling her out on.
"Honestly, Kella, it's your brother's big day and you couldn't even bother to wear something nice!?" He was glaring at her scrappy attire, a pair of comfortable pants and a tank top with rips in the material. Nothing that looked particularly nice, but she had been in a hurry that morning and besides that, it was what felt most comfortable to her. His critiques were almost always targeted like this. It set her nerves on edge every time he would nitpick her appearance. If anyone asked, she would brush them off with a brief "I'm used to it." and end it there, but every time he opened his mouth to give her another unwanted opinion, all she wanted to do was tell him to shut up and mind his own business.
Instead, she tried to be diplomatic. 'Keep the peace, pick your battles.' She told herself as the gears in her brain turned to formulate a lie he would believe. "I would, but I don't have- "
"And don't say you don't own anything nice. You and I both know I supplied you with more than enough heirlooms from your mother years ago." His voice was clipped and impatient, scrutinizing as ever. "If I had known you'd just let them collect dust in your closet I wouldn't have bothered."
Kella bit her tongue, suddenly finding the details of her shoes to be the most fascinating thing in the world. 'Don't engage, just take a breath, don't make it worse.' She chanted to herself internally like a mantra as her fingers drummed briskly at her side.
Her father seemed to take her silence as a challenge or insolence somehow. How he managed to even find fault with her not saying anything was something she would never understand. "I mean, honestly," He continued, unprompted. "When you lived with me- "
Kella had enough. "Well, I don't live with you anymore, do I?" She shot back, fixing the older man with a withering glare as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. She glowered at the plaza, bustling and lively with people, and caught Link's eye from across the way. She widened her eyes in mock mania as she tried to communicate to him that it was his turn with their only parental unit, but luckily, there was no need. The small boy knew as soon as he saw his father and sister together that she would need his help.
"Oh, look! It's Link! Future knight, woo-hoo!" Kella cheered as her brother came into earshot, wrapping one arm over his shoulders and pulling him into a sideways hug, their father's eyes never leaving the two. "Ooh, you get to hang out with dad, Goddess, you're so lucky! Unfortunately, I have some… things to take care of." She started stammering as she tried to sneakily escape the family reunion that was threatening to take place. "Very important, grown-up things!" She patted Link on the shoulder. "I'll be back to see you race though!" She promised.
Link smiled fondly at her as she took the chance to slip away, but not before their father got in a few more sharp words of rebuttal.
"This conversation isn't over, Kella." He always kept his voice even and professional, rarely ever raising it to a shout and absolutely never in public.
Kella sighed heavily, her head hanging low as she rolled her eyes exasperatedly at the man before spinning on her heel to face him with a smirk. "Try to have fun, old man." She placed a hand on her hip and cocked it to one side. "This is Link's "Big day" after all!" She felt a thrill go through her as she witnessed the frustrated look in her fathers' eye as it became obvious, he wasn't going to win this particular argument. She slipped her hands into her pocket and started to walk backwards towards the plaza, stepping lightly to avoid the people pouring into the plaza. She bit her lip to hide her smug smirk as she locked eyes with her father's furious gaze from across the way. "We wouldn't want to ruin it, now, would we?"
As I'm sure some of you can probably tell, I'm going a very different direction with Kella's character this time around. She still the same person, but she definitely has a lot more depth and issues to work on throughout the story.
I hope ya'll liked the first official chapter, Imm actually really happy with how it turned out! Feel free to let me know what you think and if you have any constructive criticism I'd love to hear that too! :3