Chapter 8 A Stop Along the Way
Link stared in amazement at the owner of the voice. It was a massive owl. His body was at least twice Link's height. He had grayish, tan feathers that were dotted with black. He also had a pair of feathers on his fore head that went up in a V-shape. "Hoo, I'm not what you expect am I? You've never seen the likes of me before have you, young one?" the Owl hooted. Link shook his head not breaking his gaze. "Well you must allow me to introduce myself I am Kaepora Gaebora. And you are?" Link's jaw hung open in amazement. Kaepora chuckled "Oh come now if I am so amazing to you, than you really have been pent up in that forest for too long ,young one." Navi was about to speak on Link's behalf but he opened up first. "Link… my name is Link." "Ah, Link, a fine name. Well it appears it is time for you to start a great adventure. I know of what has transpired in the forest. The Great Deku Tree was a friend of mine. I was sorry to hear of his passing." Navi was a little surprised at how quickly the news of the Deku Tree's death spread around. "Well anyway you're going to Hyrule Castle town am I correct in assuming that?" Link nodded still amazed at the fact that he was talking to an owl. "But you have not even got a map. How can you find your way?" Link was about to shrug but Navi came forward. "Well you see we don't have any real idea as to where we should go in the first place. So any help you can offer us is greatly appreciated," she said. Kaepora hooted again and answered "Well do you see that path over there?" He said twisting his head around to look behind him. Link's jaw dropped "His head is broken!" he yelled pointing. Navi sighed "No it's not, Link. Owls can turn their heads any direction they want," She said, "You were saying uh… sir?" Kaepora wasted no time returning to his speech "Well do you see the wide dirt path behind me? Follow that to the north and you should reach Tomar Village. Once there it should be easy to find a map."
"Thank you very much," Navi bowed. Kaepora nodded "Now I must depart. The best of luck to you on your adventure, you shall see me again at a later time." With that Kaepora opened his massive wings and flapped off of his perch into the sky. "By the way, you may want to stop our young hero. No sense in him, breaking his neck," Kaepora yelled as he flew off. Navi was a little confused until she looked over at Link. Who was turning his head violently from side to side was all his might. "What are you doing?" she sighed. "I'm… trying to… turn my… head… all the way… around," Link said in between twists. Navi took a deep breath and yelled, "Your head isn't made that way!" Link stumbled in surprise. "Ok… fine," he groaned. "Well let's just get moving," Navi said shaking her head. With that they were off. They found the path easily. The dirt was dry and dusty. A great contrast to the moist earth of the forest. Link was fascinated by the dust cloud when he kicked it. So with every other step he'd kick up a cloud of dust. He soon got bored with this and stopped doing it for the rest of the trip.
Link walked cheerfully with an extra spring in his step. Hyrule field was warm and peaceful. Birds chirped and bee's buzzed from flower to flower. Trees were numerous but well spaced. As Link walked his attention was lost in wonder at the wide open field. After living in a forest his whole life he was in awe at the amazing sights. He'd stop now and then to observe some new animal such as a squirrel or chipmunk. After hiking until noon Link sat down under a tree, ate some of the food he had packed and rested. He took the Spiritual Stone out from the bottom of his satchel to admire it for a few minutes. He looked closely at the way the golden branches curved across the surface of the emerald. That gave him and idea. He grabbed a carving knife from his belt and began carving the symbol on his deku shield. It only took about fifteen minutes. Link only carved off the bark not the wood itself. After he finished he stood to his feet and returned the stone to his satchel. The two continued on until they reached a hill. Then they climbed it. At the top of the hill they saw their destination. Tomar Village was about 3 miles away. Navi smiled, "This is great it should only take us about half an hour to get there from here."
The sun was starting to set as Link walked the dusty path to the village. In fact he was very close. The last stretch of the path was lined with typical Hylian trees. As Link closed on the village the peaceful air was broken by a loud yell. "There you are, Theif!" A hot blooded voice yelled. In an instant a man roughly eighteen years old leapt from a tree. He tackled a confused Link to the ground and held a katana to his throat. Link looked apprehensively into his cruel hazel eyes. The man's angry, narrowed eyes suddenly widened. He looked at Link in a surprised realization. "You're not the one I'm looking for," he said in surprise as he stood to his feet and sheathed his blade. Link shook his head and stood up. It was only after he got to his feet that Link got a good look at his accidental assailant. He had unruly brown hair and soft boyish looks. He was wearing a loose fitting blue shirt with a wide V-neck and baggy black pants. He had a moderate build making his muscles distinguished but not large. His katana dangled from a belt on his left hip.
Link knew the whole matter was just a mistake and paid it no more attention, but Navi, however was outraged. Her tiny mouth was going a hundred words a minute. "How dare you attack someone with out a reason! Supposing he was the person you were waiting for. You shouldn't attack him unprovoked! You could have killed him if he walking a few inches closer to you when you jumped him! What do you have to say for yourself!" She ranted violently. The Newcomer managed to get a word in edgewise. "Look!" He retorted, "Your friend here looked a lot like the person I was waiting for. He's the same height and was dressed similarly, and he does look very much like him. Heck, they even wear their weapons the same way, and if your friend did turn out to be the right person I would have to pin him as quickly as possible because if I hesitated even for a second that is all it would take for that brat to pin ME!" Navi was taken aback she wasn't used to being yelled at so intensely. "Who were you waiting for?" Link asked inquisitively. The man looked down to Link. "His name is Shinko. He looks like young warrior, like you. Only he's more of a thief. He tried to trick my father into giving him the Hylian Jade." "The what?" Link wondered aloud. "It's the Hylian spiritual stone." Link got a little worried when he heard that Shinko was out to steal spiritual stones. He reached his hand into his satchel unconsciously to make sure that his own spiritual stone was still there. "So in that case what does this kid want with it?" Navi asked. "I don't know, and I don't care. Do I look like someone who would want to know what a thief wants with something that belongs to my family?" Navi, thinking he was asking a legitimate question, tried to answer, but was cut off. "No I don't care. He's a thief and that's all I need to know. Now look I've got no time to stand around chattering." With that said the man turned and walked back to the village. "Wait what is your name anyway?" Link yelled at him. "Hiyune," he answered without turning around. "Bye Hiyune!" Link yelled back. Hiyune didn't respond verbally, just waved.
"If the person that guy mentioned is out to steal the spiritual stones then we had better be careful," Navi sighed, "Well we might as well go into the village and find a place to stay for the night." Link nodded in agreement. "Ok let's go," he said and suddenly began running. "Link wait slow down …," Navi groaned as she gave chase. Link rushed into the town and looked around like a little kid in a candy store. The village was rather small by most standards. The buildings were mostly around two stories high but some were even three. All were made of wood and had ordinary windows. Link walked up to a building and began tapping the glass curiously. They had no glass in the Kokiri forest so it was very strange and alien to him. Navi rushed over to Link but before she could stop him the door opened and there stood a man roughly forty years old with slightly gray hair and round belly. He seemed very angry at Link for his curiosity. "You dang kid," He yelled "I've had it with you hooligans. Always playing around never giving me a moment's peace," the man grabbed a broom and swung at Link. Link barely dodged it. Realizing that it wasn't a good idea to knock on people's windows he refrained from it, though his next antic would probably be worse for him. Farther down the road a tall muscular man was busily unloading barrels of water from a carriage. He wasn't wearing a shirt which exposed his chest and back hair. To top it off the man also had a short beard and a mustache. This perplexed Link. So he walked up to the man and asked "Why are you so hairy?" As you can imagine the man didn't take to kindly to this. He slammed down the barrel he was holding and rushed at Link screaming great obscenities. Link quickly turned and high tailed it out of there. Navi was truly annoyed "I can't believe you just asked him that. Do you have any idea how angry you made him!" "Yeah, he did slam down the barrel," Link answered as he ran. Finally he managed to escape the angry, bad mouthed man. He slowed down to catch his breath.
By this time the sun had already disappeared over the horizon and only its brilliant orange light remained. Link had been knocking on the doors of random houses looking for a place to spend the night. Finally he came to a medium out of the way building. He knocked on the door which was answered by a pleasant looking elderly man. He had gray hair and was slightly bald but other than that seemed very strong for someone his age. "Let me do the talking and, don't mess this one up," Navi whispered into Link's ear. Link nodded. Most everyone they talked to before had been frightened about Navi because many of them had never seen a fairy before, but this man wasn't bothered at all in fact Navi couldn't say a word before the kind man spoke cheerfully. "Oh my gracious me, a fairy," the man's eyes turned to Link. "You must one of the fabled forest children." Link nodded with a smile. "It is almost dark little one you should come inside. I'll have some extra soup prepared for you." Link walked into the building and looked around. The place was a small tavern therefore it had numerous wooden tables and chairs as well as small bar. It was, however, very quiet. Only two men were there both sat calmly sipping there beers. Link sat down next to one of them and Navi fluttered down to sit on the table. The man looked at Link. "HI!" Link said cheerfully. The man chucked and nodded. Soon the proprietor returned. He saw Link sitting next to the man. "You don't need to sit there that's for customers you are a guest. Come this way." The owner led Link to a small set of stairs that led up to a second floor. Link followed the man to a small room with a table and several chairs. "Now wait here I'll get you something, and by the way my name is Berrack. So if you need anything don't hesitate to call." With that Berrack left the room leaving Link alone. Link sat down at the table and started Fidgeting with the various utensils that sat on the table.
Berrack came back several moments later with a bowl of hot stew. He set it down in front of Link who stared curiously at it. Sure they had soup in the forest but the stuff they put in it was limited. Only green leafy vegetables and fruit never meat or potatoes. Berrack could see he wasn't used to stuff like that. "It's stew" he said. Link nodded without raising his head. Link grabbed the spoon and began scooping up pieces of food and stuffing it in his mouth. At first he was apprehensive but as soon as he tried it he was surprised. He began shoveling food in at an increased rate. Barrack chuckled. He was about to start a conversation when they heard a door open and someone enter the tavern. "One minute I'll be right back." Berrack left the room and went down the stairs. Link overheard a muffled conversation. "Oh so you're back." Berrack said. "Yeah" a familiar sounding voice replied. "Well come up stairs we have a guest." "Yeah whatever." Link heard to set of foot steps coming up the stairs. First Berrack appeared in the door way followed by none other then Hiyune. "Hiyune, this is…" Berrack stopped not knowing Link's name. "Link" Navi filled in. "Yes we've met" Hiyune said "Good to know your name. You forgot to give it to me on our last… 'meeting'." Navi became very offended by the way Hiyune described the incident earlier that afternoon. "Meeting!" She blurted in outrage. "You almost killed him! And you've got the nerve to say it was nothing more then a meeting!" "Is this true Hiyune?" Berrack asked with disappointment sounding in his voice. Hiyune just shrugged. "It was all a misunderstanding I mistook him for Shinko. Now unless you've got any thing else you want to ask me I'm going to get some rest." Berrack shook his head. "Then good night all," Hiyune walked down the hall to his room and went in. Berrack sighed and sat down.
"You'll have to forgive my son ever since he started training he has been obsessed with being the best. Now someone comes along and beats him he gets totally absorbed in defeating him." Berrack explained. "Yeah we heard about that guy Shinko who tried to steal the spiritual stone." Navi stated. "Why would he want to steal your stone?" Link asked between mouthfuls. "I don't think he, himself does," Barrack speculated. "He didn't seem like the type who would be interested in this sort of thing. I think he works for that Ganondorf fellow." "Ganondorf, who's Ganondorf." Link asked in confusion. Berrack took a deep breath. "He's one of them Gerudos. He's their king in fact. He passed through here not to long ago on his way to some conference with the Hylian King. He's a scary looking person that fellow. Just lookin' at him gives you chills. I mean his skin is dark enough but he's all dressed in some kind of black armor." Link, who was startled by this, spit out his food, in surprise. "Black armor," Navi whispered to Link "Do you think he's the same guy that…" Link cut her off "Maybe," he replied. "Sorry he says his food was a little hot," Navi said falsely explaining Link's reaction, "Now why would this Ganondorf want to steal your spiritual stone?" Berrack thought for a moment and then replied. "Well I don't really know. The only thing I remember is the fact that he became very interested when he heard that I had a spiritual stone. Anyway enough small talk you look tired if you're finished I'll show you to your room."
Link nodded and got up from the table. Berrack stood up next and led him down the hall. He opened a door to reveal a small simple room. It had a dresser under a single window at the far wall and a nightstand that stood next to a small bed. "Have a good night" Berrack said "If ya need anything just yell." With that Berrack left the room. Link approached the bed and regarded it curiously. After a quick examination his surroundings he removed his gear and placed it on the night stand. They fell onto the bed and quickly fell into the peaceful darkness of sleep.