Chapter IX: Purposes
"Reona, how did he know my name?"
"For the thousandth time, Link," Reona sighed, "the Elder has powerful magic that none of us are quite sure of. Who's to say how he knows? Certainly not me."
I sighed. How was I supposed to figure anything out if she didn't teach me?! This was insane!
"Link…if we encounter any people on the way here, and they ask where you came from…just tell them you came from my island. Crescent Island," she corrected herself, not meeting my eyes.
"What? Why?"
"Why not?" she answered unblinkingly, and then paused, explaining with, "It'll…decrease a need for questions. I doubt anyone will ask of your origin, but…with that outfit, it's highly possible."
I looked down at my tunic. What was wrong with my outfit? It was comfortable, durable, good in any weather situation, had plenty of pockets…
"What's wrong with it?" I asked defensively.
"It's normal to wherever you acme from…not here. And anything that's not normal…is frowned upon here."
"That's stupid."
"We're tormented by a Shadow almost daily, Link," she said quietly. "We can't afford to be open-minded."
I didn't have a response to that one, so we walked on quietly for awhile.
"What's the crystal thingy he gave you for?"
"…it doesn't matter. I'm just delivering it to the Messenger at Symmetry. It doesn't matter what its purpose is…it's none of my business."
Reona, I thought to myself, really had the potential to become an elite member of an army of evil cronies, with the entire 'do-what-authority-says-and-don't-ever-ask-a-question' belief system.
"What if it's used for evil?" I had to question. Too many days of adventuring.
"What if it's not?" she shrugged. "It's not—"
"—to question, I know, I know," I rolled my eyes. "I was just wondering what all you knew."
"More than you think I do."
I sighed. This could be a long journey.
It was a long time before either of us said anything. In fact, the trip was almost silent until we stopped just outside a forest.
"These are the Faerie's Woods," Reona said, breaking what had turned into almost a seven hour silence. I was a little surprised to hear her speak. More than once I'd tried to start a conversation, so I guess it hadn't been completely silent, but Reona had told me she didn't want the shadowspawn to hear us and come to fight. So I'd kept quiet, just as she'd asked. "We'll stop here and camp out for the night, and continue on first thing tomorrow morning."
Personally, I thought it was a little early to stop, but I'd already learned by now that questioning Reona's ideas wasn't a smart tactic. So we set up camp and were sitting around a fire roasting strange fruits that Reona had picked up when I finally decided that something needed to be said. I didn't know what exactly to say, but I had been thinking a lot about the Prophecy, and figured maybe whatever I had to say could be centered around that.
"So why do you think we're here?"
Reona lifted the stick with her fruit on it out of the fire, inspecting it carefully. It was still on fire. She blinked, staring at it, then put it back in the fire. She looked up at me with tired eyes.
"It's not for us to—"
"—But if you could question it," I interrupted, not wanting to hear another one of the Elder's lectures.
"I don't know," she said softly.
"Aw, c'mon, Reona, you know you have an opinion on it. The Elder's not here. Neither are Ochi or Michi. It's just me and you, and I'm not gonna get offended if you actually, y'know, think about more than just working."
"Each of us are here for a different purpose," she said quietly. "What are purpose is depends on by which piece of the Triforce we were crafted under. Michi, despite how frail she may sometime look, is very strong. If she wasn't stuck working on the Black Tower, I think she'd make a good warrior, so I think she was made by Din. Ochi is a very caring person, even at her young age. She's all the time playing with all the animals in the town, so full of life…she makes me think Farore…I'm a Keeper of the Justice, gifted in the art of magic…I'm not much of a warrior or even a person who protects the lives of others…"
"So you were created by Nayru." I said, understanding what she was saying.
"Exactly," she nodded, still speaking very softly. I wondered why.
"So who do you think created me?" I had to ask.
"Well," she smiled a little, "you do have the Triforce of Courage, so I think that's fair to say that you were definitely an idea of Farore's. Not to mention…you're a protector of the people too, yes?"
"I suppose," I shrugged.
"So that would make sense," she said with finality, an 'end-of-conversation' tone of voice.
"Hey, Reona…"
"Let's not talk anymore about this, okay?"
"…how come?" I asked.
"My mother was killed because of her beliefs, okay? It's not normal for us to think about a deeper meaning. We do what we're told, end of discussion. If we get to thinking too much, we lose our productivity. So we're not allowed to discuss our beliefs out loud. It kind of prevents us from having them frequently, in most cases, okay? I don't want to talk about it," she pulled the fruit out of the fire again, blowing it out. I was surprised it wasn't burnt to a crisp, but it didn't seem to be.
"Okay. I'm sorry, Reona."
"It's okay, Link," she shrugged. "It's just…end of discussion."
"Okay."
And yet, I could hardly believe that one could be killed because they had an opinion…I guess it was okay to have one, but the second it came into the open…I highly doubted that this place sported a freedom of speech law like Zelda had set up in Hyrule. I wondered how these people made it sometimes…so many thoughts, and no one to share them with…if you were used to it, I suppose it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but, still…it was human nature to be curious, wasn't it?
Maybe the life I had lived had been a lie…or maybe Reona was just living one herself.
A/n: I have writer's block out of this world on this story…if anyone has any ideas, don't hold back. I know how it's gonna end…but filling up the pages between is proving to be a problem. I'm not sure when the next update on this will be, but if you're really interested, feel free to contact me. All my info's on my bio page…which would make sense…
Hope you like it!
I don't own Zelda. But I do have a Zelda T-shirt! And a bunch of Zelda games! But they were Nintendo's before they were mine…
Love and peace,
Xifa
