"So, what's the plan?"
Tetra laid on her too-large bed and grinned tiredly. "Well, assuming that the wind keeps, we should reach Windfall in three days. And if we're lucky—which we're not—the wind'll keep…."
"And if we're not lucky?"
"Six, could be seven days. We're stretching it a bit, but the food should last until then."
"Alright, then what?"
"Then we head East and reach Dragon Roost in about two weeks, max. We pick up our Rito contingent, plus some more supplies—free, hopefully—and we're off."
Link slumped in his chair and watched as Tetra closed her eyes and was silent for a while. He looked around her cabin, warm with candlelight, the many charts and pictures on her wall flickered with the rolling motion of the Great Sea beneath them. "That's not what I meant, Tetra."
She half-opened her eyes. "And what is it that you mean, Link?"
"After Dragon Roost. Then what? What exactly is our plan?"
"Well," Tetra closed her eyes again and took a deep breath before continuing, "I was planning on just sailing North until we hit something. Genius, no?"
"This is crazy."
There was a moment of silence in which only the groaning of the ship and the crashing of the waves could be heard. Then Tetra began to laugh. Link was taken aback.
"What's so funny?"
Tetra had her hand over her mouth and was trying to hold back her snickering. Once she had composed herself, she sat straight up in her bed and faced Link, eyes wide as a cat's.
"Who are you?" she asked.
Link stared at her cautiously. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Just answer the question."
"You know who I am, what's wrong—"
"Just do it!"
"Link, Link! My name's Link! Happy?"
They stared at each other for a while. Link stared into Tetra's large black eyes; he thought they looked like black rupees, if there were such a thing. It was a while before he noticed the concern. Suddenly embarrassed, he looked away.
Finally, she asked, "Link, what's wrong?"
"Why do you think something is wrong?"
"Because you're not acting like yourself. Where's your spirit, Link? When we first set sail, you were all for finding the new Hyrule. Now… well, I don't know what's changed. Think you could clue me in?"
Link was silent. When he spoke, his words were slow and deliberate. "Don't… don't you think it's a little weird?"
There was silence again. Tetra slowly shook her head and asked, "What's weird?"
Link lifted from his chair and swept his arm across the room. "All of this! I mean, the Triforce, the sages, Hyrule beneath the waves," he paused and looked at Tetra's startled face, "the fact that we are… more than we are."
Tetra looked down at the floor. "I still don't follow."
"Oh, please, Tetra," Link paused for a second, "or is it Zelda? Tell me, princess, which do you prefer?"
Tetra stared at Link before rolling her eyes and plopping back into bed. "Is that what this is all about, then?" She began to snicker again.
Link quickly walked towards her, sat on her bed and brought his face close to hers.
"What are you doing?!" she asked threateningly.
Link wasn't about to back down. "Don't you think it's a little weird that at this moment, deep beneath the Great Sea, there is a castle that contains within it a statue that is more than a hundred years old that looks exactly like me?"
Tetra laid quietly and watched the fire in her friend's eyes be replaced by fear—the fear of child abandoned.
"Tetra," Link turned to face the cabin floor, "I saw myself within that castle. But it wasn't me, really. I don't know how to explain it… it's just that…"
Link felt Tetra's hand on his shoulder. From behind him, her voice said, "It's okay, Link…."
"I'm no hero, Tetra. I did what I did because I had to. I'm not the person in that statue…"
Tetra's hand crossed from his shoulder to his head. Then it was gone. Link turned to her. Her eyes were closed again. "But you are, Link. It can't be helped. We are what we are—don't fight it." she said.
Link just nodded his head as he walked towards the door.