Chapter 2: Crucial Decisions

The next week blossomed bright and shiney, but Link's mind continued to dwell on the mysterious vision. Was the girl alright? What was it that attacked her? An invisible string pulled at his heart, driving him toward the girl, but he couldn't leave his grandmother or his sister. Intuition and common sense battled constantly through his mind.
While Link's mind refused to move on, Tomar arrived from the capital. He was a burly man who loved a good drink and had a great dislike for fairy tales. When he got drunk he would preach his mind to anyone who'd listen. He traveled here to there, trading goods, services and mainly news; a typical one-road nomad.
He came trotting into town one morning; his open wagon bumping along, his horse shaking flies from her mane and him ready for a good drink.
"What news of the outside world?" Everyone had gathered in his rarely-used house, all pondering the same question.
"Well, more conference up at the castle. Word has it Gannon dorf is finally seeing things peacefully, but they've been saying that for weeks now. Um... Miss Nabooru seems to be out of her sickness, but they say she's got amneasia; can't remeber a darn thing! the prices of urns has gone down..."
Link's patience finally gave way. He bolted out of his seat.
"But what of Zelda, Tomar? Princess Zelda?!"
He had caught the room by surprise. Silence lay upon them thickly, all eyes were on him.
"Zelda...?" Tomar blinked in astonishment.
Suddenly he burst out in laughter.
"Dontcha think your a bit young to be girl-chasing, kiddo?" He cackled. Link felt his face heat.
"You're never too young!" someone yelled.
"You're never too old either!" yelled someone else, and the shack shook with laughter.
Link sat back down, feeling akward and a little relieved. It was nothing, I'm just worried about nothing. It was odviously just a hallucination. Instead of worrying about Princess Zelda, I should be more worried about my health!
"Well, now that you mention it..." Link's heart skipped a beat at Tomar's new input. "Her highness had a bit of a fit around a week ago. Been a bit pale since/ They figure she caught whatever Miss Nabooru had."
Everyone muttered a little.
"Yup, strange times these are. That night there was a freak storm."
"No way Tomar. There was a strange storm here too!"
There was a brief moment of silence...
"But if something is wrong the legendary hero will save us, right?" Link's little sister, Aryll, chimed in.
All the kids started their orcastra.
"Yeah!-"
"-Legendary hero-"
"-sword of evil's bane-"
"Now look here, missy." Tomar glowered at Aryll sternly. "The legendary hero doesn't exist, nor did he ever. He's not going to save anyone."
Aryll closed her small fingers in Link's sleeve, looking mournful.
"About those urns..." Tomar struck up a new topic.
"Don't worry, Aryll." Link whispered to the little girl. "If something's bad happens, the legendary hero will save us."
Aryll lit up and nodded.

~*~

"Link, is something wrong?" His grandmother look at him curiously. "You've been sitting around all day."
The following days after Tomar arrived had been restless for the poor boy. What could he do? He had no idea what kind of danger Princess Zelda could be in.
On the third day, Tomar approached him.
"Link, would you like to come to Hyrule with me?"
Link nearly fell over. What? Him? Go to the capital? Wait a minute, why was...?
"Your grandmother seemed worried about you and asked me to take you along. She thinks the trip might be good for you."
Link could have cried. He quickly agreed with Tomar, thanked him and hurried home.
He found his grandmother and his sister cooking dinner. The scrumptious smells wound their way to his nose and embetted themselves in his heart.
"You're leaving tomorrow, so you better start packing." His grandmother said, stirring a pot of stew in the hearth.
"But-"
"Don't say it, dear." She wipped her hands on a washcloth and walked over to him.
"Ever since Tomar got back with his stories, your heart has been somewhere else. L believe now is the time to follow your heart." She suddenly hugged him.
"I've always known you were destined for great things," she whispered, "and the place you are needed is not here."
She pulled put of their embrace.
"And don't you be worrying about me. I've got Aryll here, and we both know how she could help out more around here." She smiled. "Now run along dear."
He reluctantly went off to pack his things.
As he pulled out his pack, he heard a small voice behind him.
"Brother..."
"Aryll." He turned around to face her.
"I want you to have this." She handed him a small object.
"This is...!"
An ocarina; her favorite one. The red, yellow and blue rinestones sparkled with all her hopes and dreams and the blue mouth peice was polished with years of tender love.
"Aryll, I..."
"Please take it with you, brother."
"Aryll!" Their grandmother's voice echoed from the kitchen.
"Coming!"
With one, last glance back at Link, Aryll left him with the ocarina and his thoughts. But Link just sat down and cried. He couldn't help it; the tears came trikling down on their own.
Even though it was just a vacation, Link had a gut feeling that it would be a long time before he saw his family again.

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Author's Notes: So what did you think about ch.2? It was so much better than the first one, or at least I think so. I know, that was kind of an unrealistic way for Link to leave his home, but I had to get him out of there or the story will never progress! Thank you for reading my story ^_^. - Fuuko