Chapter 1: The Coming of Age
It was a warm morning, with a good breeze and a bright, shining sun. Outset Island was again blessed by warm weather, as usual. It was still early, however, and the only sounds that one could hear were the distant caws of the gulls and the ever-crashing waves. However, this silence was quickly broken.
"Big brother! Big brother!"
It was Aryll, a small girl who was resident to Outset Island. In fact, she lived in the house closest to the Rito postbox, which was currently empty.
"Hoy! Brother!"
She ran with her bare feet across the northern beach of Outset, heading for the tall outlook on the northwest corner of the island. Her blonde hair blew all about as a large gust of wind passed by. Undeterred, she continued running to the outlook.
She reached the ladder at the bottom of the outlook, and looked up to see a large amount of seagulls hovering over the outlook.
"Thank you, my friends!" Aryll shouted at the gulls, waving.
She began climbing the ladder, making sure that every rung was sturdy, as always.
The gulls, watching Aryll as she climbed, did not fly away. They were almost friends to Aryll, as she frequently came to the lookout to play with them. She seemed to have an uncanny ability to befriend the birds, and they seemed to enjoy Aryll's company.
She reached the top of the ladder and climbed onto the platform to see her brother laying there, sleeping soundly.
"Link! Wake up!" she said.
Link's eyes slowly opened, and he very slowly rose to his feet, brushing his blonde hair out of his eyes all the while.
"Hoy big brother!" Aryll said.
Link merely yawned and stretched his arms out wide.
"You're still in your pajamas, big brother!"
Aryll was right about that. Link, although he had come to the lookout earlier, after he had awoken the first time, was still wearing his orange pajama pants and his blue shirt. The shirt had a white crayfish pattern on it, for reasons unknown.
"Don't you know what today is?" Aryll queried. "You're still half-asleep, aren't you?"
Link merely yawned again and said nothing.
"It's you birthday!"
At these words Link's heart skipped and he was suddenly fully awake. He nodded to Aryll, and quickly ran over to the ladder.
"You'd better hurry! Gramma's waiting for you!" she shouted after him as he climbed downward.
Link descended until there were only five rungs left, then jumped onto the dock and ran as fast as he could back to the house.
On his way he passed Zill, another child of Outset with an unusually runny nose.
"Happy birthday Link!" he said as Link ran by.
Link reached his house soon, passing the lower bridge and Orca's house. He passed by the wriggling mail box (someone apparently got some mail) and finally up to his front porch.
He stopped, sighed, and opened the door with a slow creak. He slowly walked in and let go of the door, resulting in another creak and a soft click.
Link climbed up the ladder to the highest room of the house, to find his grandmother waiting for him. She was standing under the family shield, a neatly carved, brown, wooden shield with a strange mark on it. It seemed to be a golden triangle shape of some sort.
"I've waited a long time for this day to come, Link. The day that you come of age to partake in the Outset tradition!" his grandmother said.
She smiled and handed Link a strange green outfit. It appeared to be a green tunic with a strange matching green hat. It was almost like a nightcap, but plain and green. It also had a strange set of white tights (or something of the likeness) and a nice pair of brown boots.
Link stared at it with interest and resentment. His grandmother seemed to notice this.
"Oh Link, don't look so down! After all, it's only for one day! Enjoy your birthday! Tonight you'll have the greatest birthday party we've ever seen!"
