Chapter Seven

The Wind Chime and the Pictures

"Do you want to know that or my whole story?" asked the girl, regretting giving him this choice.

"If you don't mind, I suppose I want the whole story," voiced Link, excited to hear what she was, where she was from.

"Well," she said, trying to keep her voice confident and strong, "I suppose it all began when I was born ---"

"Yes, a person's life usually does begin when they are born," Link commented. She took a swipe at him.

"Shut up you! Do you want me to tell you or not?" She took his silence for a yes.

" As I was saying, I was born in Hyrule Castle Town on the eighteenth of May. I was told that my mother wanted my father to name me. Every name my father wished to give me, mother didn't like. Finally, he gave up trying to find me a name.

"Then one day my mother became very sick and my father tended her all through the night, but she died on the next day." The girl was trying to force out these painful memories, not even that but the loss of her mother's gentle voice. That was all she could remember of her mother, that one sweet lullaby. Quickly, she brushed the tears off her white cheeks and continued.

"My father never named me after that, because he didn't want to upset my mother's soul. He always called me 'my little missy' since I didn't have a name. Then when I was eight, my father decided to take me hunting with him and . . ." her voice stopped, running into silence. The memory of that hunting trip was almost too painful for her to speak of. The girl was now crying into her knees, trying to stop but the tears came flooding out. She hadn't cried when it happened, she hadn't cried after it, so why was she crying now?

Link was quite startled. Once again she was crying. It was something that didn't seem right for her; it was unnatural. She didn't have a mother either. At least she had a father, he thought. He pulled out a tissue and handed it to her. The girl didn't notice. She just kept on crying, her whole body shaking with grief. What was he going to do?

Finally, he said quietly, "If you don't want to tell me what happened, I understand." The girl looked up. His face was soft with expression, and sympathy. There also was a pain hidden in it that made it seem that . . . that he knew what it was like. The girl took the handkerchief from his hand and began to dry her sea green eyes. "Thanks," she said wearily, almost inaudible. She got up and moved towards the door.

"Wait," Link said, seizing her hand. It felt warm to the touch, yet she pulled away from it's inviting secureness. "I'm really sorry that your mother died. I know what it's like. I . . . I don't have a mother either," She looked at the boy with new found compassion. When she had first seen him, she had seen many losses and suffering in his eyes. Link must have been through a lot of things to have so much pain. She opened her mouth to speak, but at that moment Erdwick came in. They turned around to face the little man.

He said, "Well now, I suppose you're done talking?" They nodded at him silently. "Now," said the little man, " would either of you like some supper?" The girl hadn't realized that she had been hungry until her stomach let out a long low growl. Erdwick smiled at her, his almost too white smile. "I guess that answers my question." Then they left the hut through another door the girl hadn't noticed before. It was as if it wasn't even there until Erdwick had opened it.

The door led on into a small corridor, with many pictures hanging on the walls. The girl was interested in everyone of them and was looking at a portrait of fat man in a bathtub, when she saw a picture that stopped her in her tracks. It was a picture of a young girl, about ten. Her eyes were green as the sea and somehow seemed strangely familiar. Her hair was a golden, sunlight blonde and her smile was perfect, gleaming with an inner radiance. She was standing beside a tree, a weeping willow.

When she had stopped to look at the picture, Link had bumped into her. "Will you watch it?" he said irritably, looking to see why she had stopped. He gasped. Link's gaze went from the picture, to the girl, then back again. "Who is that? Do you know her?" The girl gave no reply, but stared steadily on, looking at the girl's face, in a wondering, questioning way.

Erdwick had turned around to see why they were so far behind. That's when he saw it. The picture they were looking at. His face a bit wild with fear, he ran towards them and pushed the two dazed figure towards the open doorway ahead.

"Erdwick, who was that girl, with the green eyes?" asked Link, curiosity invading him.

"Just one of my patients," he answered gruffly, not meeting either of their gazes.

"But I think I've seen her before," began the protesting girl, "I just know I've seen her . . ."

"It is of no consequence . . ."

"But surely, she does look like . . ." said the boy earnestly.

"Now is not the time, boy!" His ruby eyes were now a blazing fire, unlike their usual twinkle. On they walked, in silence until they came to the door.

As they walked into the room, the portrait of the girl was blown from her mind. The room was much more civilized than the last. It was made of stone, with a small fire place at the side. A small stove was stationed in the corner with a pot, sending out a smell, most glorious. In the center, was a small round table, set for three with blue china dishes. There was a small window, with white curtains in them. This room had fewer shelves, only these held little trinkets on them. A silver bell, five wooden flutes, a figurine of a dancer, a tin soldier, a stuffed lion.

But what intrigued her most was a small, glass wind chime. All the glasses were different colors, yet clear all the same, as if stained by a rainbow. The wind blew softly in through the curtains, making the chime sing. It was the most beautiful sound that had ever met her ears and it seemed to make a tune. It was her mother's lullaby, her lullaby! She began humming it softly, closing her eyes, to remember an old memory in time. Then the music stopped. She opened her eyes in time to see Erdwick setting it gently in a drawer. She didn't want to irritate the little man further, for he was already upset. Then, he gestured for them to sit down.

During the meal, she couldn't eat a thing. She sat there, pushing her food around her plate, her mind trying to remember. Finally, the meal was over. "Would you like to go to bed now? You've had quite a long day and you'll need your rest." The girl suddenly felt a wave of sleepiness roll over her. Erdwick ushered them into yet another hall from a hidden door. This hallway had fewer pictures than the last, but nothing that caught her eye.

Erdwick opened the door, revealing two four-poster beds, with thick patchwork quilts covering them and violet curtains. Exhausted from the day and the event three days ago, the girl collapsed onto the springy mattress, falling asleep instantly.

Link stared at her figure, slipping off the bed. Smiling at her, he gently picked her up and laid her back on her bed, the covers strewn over her. Then, yawning thickly, he slumped over to his own bed, the last audible sound he heard was scrapping. This made him a bit curious. Hadn't Erdwick gone to bed as well? Whatever he was doing was probably not very important. He laid back to let sleep take him away, but it never came.

-*-*-*-*-

Erdwick crept noiselessly along the corridor, a lantern in one hand, a brown, wooden box in the other. He opened the door to the first hall they had been in. He quickly took down the picture of the blonde girl and another picture opposite it, with a young boy of thirteen in it. His eyes were a glaring green, his hair a rich shade of auburn. Moving along, he entered his dining room. Slowly, he pulled the scraping drawer out and pulled out the wind chime. So many days had passed since . . . now was not the time ,though, to think of such things. Closing the crate, he shuffled back to his room and fell asleep, just as the first cuccos crowed at the morning light.

-*-*-*-*-

Waking to a cuccos' crow, the brown haired girl sat up. Her body was still quite weak, so she moved slowly, stealthy across the room. She creaked open the door and went down the hall to the dining room. She quickly, eagerly opened the drawer, but the chime wasn't there. She was sure he had left it inside this drawer. Well, maybe she should go and take another look at that picture of the girl.

Curiously, she scanned the other wall, looking for the doorway. After feeling around for what seemed like hours, she found a small crevice in it and pulled it open. She crept down the hall to look at the picture of the blond girl but . . . it was gone! Another picture was missing just opposite it on the wall. Where was it? And the wind chime? Something odd was going on.

Questions flew through her head like birds. She walked slowly back to bed, braiding her long, thick hair. She opened the door and sighed to see that the boy, er, Link, wasn't awake yet.

She flopped onto her bed and sighed, looking at her velvet curtains, thinking about where the pictures might be. Who had taken them, anyway?

"I suppose you went and saw the pictures?" came a voice out of the lightening darkness. She sat up and whirled around to see Link, sitting cross-legged at the head of her bed, grinning at her.

"And what are you doing on my bed?" she asked him, suspiciously.

"Just waiting for you to come back from you early morning prowl," said the boy, lazily. "But you did go to see the picture didn't you?" She nodded her answer, a bit reluctantly. She still didn't trust this boy, even if he wasn't quite as mean as she had thought him to be.

"How did you know I went to see the picture?"

"Easy. I followed you." He looked happily into her annoyed face.

"And why did you do that?" Her temper was rising degree, by degree.

"I was bored. I couldn't sleep at all last night, so I was up when you, oh so silently crept out of the room." The girl noted the sarcasm in his voice and loathed it.

"Are you trying to tell me your any better at it? Sneaking around?" she looked him over to see that he didn't even seem in the slightest insulted, but thrilled.

"I'll show you," he retorted, leaping off the bed, yet making not a sound. He walked across the room and back without the slightest bit of noise. Then he leapt back on the bed and it didn't move at all.

"How did you do that?" asked the girl, clearly amazed by this. "I would never have guessed from all the racket you made in the forest."

"Are you challenging me?" his voice hinted while he began to chuckle. "To a battle of silence? For if you did, I most certainly would win."

"No," she said casually, fluffing her pillow, "I'm challenging you to a pillow fight!" And in a flash, she was spanking him with her pillow, as he ducked behind the night stand.

"This is unfair! I haven't got a weapon," he said rolling away from her next attack.

"Exactly," she called, throwing her pillow in a true hit, but Link had gotten to his bed and was grabbing his pillow, blocking her attacks. She whirled around as she swung a hard blow and missed. He took the advantage and began beating her with his pillow as she fell to the floor, starting to laugh.

The fight continued until a very grumpy, tiered looking Erdwick came into the room with striped flannel pajamas on. He stood there for a moment watching the fight, that was now a tickling war, with amusement. Then, he cleared his throat, announcing his presence. The two feather covered teenagers looked up at him. Link's pillow had burst open, turning the room into a winter wonderland, and covering everything in feathers.

The girl got up, brushing the feathers off her clothes and hair, not noticing the one stuck to her flushed cheek. Her once braided hair was a mess of flyaway brown. Link was by far worse. He looked like a bird himself, getting the full blast of the pillow. He spit feathers out of his mouth and sneezed some off of his face. They both stood there in front of the little man, giggling and pulling off feathers. Erdwick didn't seem very upset with them, for his eyes once again twinkled with their merriment.

"I suppose you both know who will be cleaning up this mess, don't you?" he smiled at them wickedly.

"But . . ." began a desperate Link.

"No, no, no my boy. You have made the mayhem and will therefore be responsible for it. Then you two can be on your way. I see no reason for this young lady to stay any longer." He left them to their work, closing the door.

"Well, isn't this lovely," grumbled a feathery Link, "It wasn't our fault the pillow burst." He began to gather up the loose feathers in the useless pillow case.

"Well, there's no reason to grumble about it. It won't make the work go any faster. And what did he mean there's no reason for us to stay anymore? He said we were here for more reasons than for him to heal me, right? And he certainly should tell us about those pictures and the wind chime he hid." She seemed to think that all this was obvious, but Link looked a bit surprised.

"Are you suggesting that . . . that Erdwick took those things? But their his! Why would he take them?" Link trusted Erdwick and didn't want to think this.

"He's keeping something from us. And I for one want to know what it is!" The girl said this very determinedly, as she ground feathers into Link's face.