A shadowy, stealthy figure appeared from the uppermost branches, flipping effortlessly down. Now it was hanging from a thick branch with one hand, swinging its legs; then, suddenly,it landed right in front of Link, flitting silently as a shadow.
She must have been one of the island natives, Link figured. Her skin was dark, highlighted by a few sand-coloured freckles around her nose. Her long dark gray hair swept behind her shoulders, reaching all the way past her shoulder blades. She reminded Link of his pirate-girl friend Tetra – the sort of person who loved adventure and was pretty independent in her own special way, but he had yet to meet this one.
"You're pretty fast, you know." The girl dropped down from the branch, and for the first time Link could see her completely. Her eyes were blue, a dancing bright aqua blue. They were shining in the light of golden lanterns which Link suddenly noticed had been suspended in the tree branches, shining with unearthly light.
"Who are you?" Link asked, relaxing slightly.
"Maureen. I'm from Datillo Island. You?"
"I'm Link ... This is Datillo Island, right?"
"Yep," the girl said with a wink. "Follow me and I'll show you around."
Link grinned and followed Maureen through the forest. Looking around, he noticed that the lanterns hanging in the trees were actually brass oil lamps, blazing with orange flames. Maureen led him all the way to a marble castle not far from the entrance. It wasn't the biggest of castles – nowhere near the sunken Hyrule Castle – but it was ornately carved and decorated out of the purest white marble with towers, ramparts crenellations.
Link followed the Datillan girl all the way through the castle entrance, which was a big, dark hole. There was a door to, of course, but from what he could see, Link thought, one hand on his sword as he gazed upward, it was held right above the entrance, with a hanging rope to pull it open. The tree canopy was less thick here and the feebly-coloured sun shone down brightly, nevertheless causing a glare bright enough to fling Link's hand up to shield his eyes.
Maureen led Link into the castle. It started with a large, earthen room with a hard-packed floor. Clay jugs had been pushed up against a corner of the wall, and beyond them was an oaken door with a red and gold dragon-embroidered tapestry in front of it. Three kids were leaning casually against the clay jars, talking together. They turned around as the two of them approached.
The kids were also Datillans, Link could tell, two boys and a girl. One of the boys was short, with a bow and quiver slung across his back. His hair was dark gray and curly and he also had a few sand-coloured freckles spaced around his cheeks. The other two appeared to be brother and sister. The girl was about medium height, with long gray hair pulled back in a ponytail and a ton of freckles. Her eyes were like glowing coals, ruby-red with the dancing colours of flame around the irises. Her brother had shaggy hair, long and thick, that fell over his bright emerald eyes.
"This is Jessa and her brother, Manny. And this is Mosley," Maureen announced as they approached, pointing to each of the kids in turn. "Everyone, this is Link. He's from..." She looked at Link curiously. "Where are you from, anyway?"
Link grinned. "Outset Island," he replied.
"Right, so, you wait here with the others, Link. I have to go get some people."
"Who does she have to get?" Link asked Mosley. The other boy smiled mysteriously, running a hand through his curly hair.
"Chances are she probably has to go get Nalinda and Marty," Mosley answered, jumping up onto the tall clay jar standing behind him and starting to swing his legs. "She always does."
Marty and Jessa hopped up on two jars next to Mosley. Link hesitated a moment, then jumped on one himself. "How big is Datillo Island?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.
"Datillo? It's about, I dunno, twenty miles wide, maybe." Jessa gathered her legs up from under her and looked forward. "Everyone in this part of the island lives in the castle. But there're other parts too. There's Graymoor, Coconut Beach, Palmleaves..."
Manny nodded on his part. "But why did you come here, Link?"
Well," Link started thoughtfully, glancing up at the ceiling, "I was on my boat when I saw this island I'd never seen before."
Mosley nodded, a grin flickering around his lips. "Yeah, it's even past the place where the ruins of Hyrule are sunk under the ocean," he informed Link. "That's probably why you've never seen it before."
Jessa lay down and rolled over luxuriously, tossing her ponytail behind her head before carefully undoing the green band that held it together. Kicking her legs, she gathered her hair up tightly behind her head before tying it up again. "It's a nice life, here on Datillo," she added. "Everyone's happy."
"Not to mention curious," continued Mosley. "Like, everyone's always wanted to know what it's like out there." He gestured vaguely.
"Probably some Hylian settlers," confirmed Manny with a nod.
"But they had some things changed – the took out the door and moved it up higher, and where it was they dug that hole instead." Mosley let his hands trail over his quiver. "But it must have happened a long time ago – now, the place is overrun with stuff our ancestors made."
"And nobody knows what's written on that wall," Jessa said with a jerk of her head. "It is really ancient, after all; we're native to Datillo, but our ancestors were hiding in the forest before they discovered the clearing. When they finally crept out, they noticed someone had built a castle on the island."
Catching Jessa's lead, Link turned around. Sure enough, part of the western wall was covered with ancient carved Hylian writing. He jumped down from the clay jug and pivoted on one booted heel, curiously trotting over to the wall. Mosley, Manny and Jessa followed him, their shoes making a soft tapping on the hard-packed earthen floor.
Link, driven by curiosity, jogged all the way to the wall and ran his hands over the ornate carvings, leaning in so close so that a wisp of his blond hair pressed against the mysterious wall. Link ran one hand along the carvings, then pointed to something that looked like three interconnected triangles, glimmering golden in the light of the room.
"This is the Triforce," Link informed the Datillans, pointing. He ran his left hand along some of the other carvings. "I can read a bit of Hylian writing. It says..." He trailed off, eyes squinched shut and tongue sticking out as he jerked his head thoughtfully upward. Finally, he opened his eyes and ran them over the ancient writing. "'One day a hero will come to save the land...' That's as far as I can read," Link explained apologetically, dropping his hands and whirling around at the creaking of an opening door.
Sure enough, Maureen reentered the main hall, accompanied by another boy and girl. "Link, these are Nalinda and Marty," she announced, bowing with a flourish. "He's prince of the castle."
The boy nodded shyly. He was about medium height, with short dark gray hair - which Link was now getting used to - and yellowish-golden eyes. Perched atop his head was a cut-gold crown, tinted silver, with an azure jewel set in a spike at the top. The girl, Nalinda, was taller than Link, with curly hair that fell over her shoulders and a warm-looking smile. Her eyes were a deep, vibrant blue-violet, like amethysts. She was clad in a tunic with a skirt up to her knees. It turned out Nalinda was the one who always took care of housework at the castle.
So far, Link had met only kids: Maureen, Mosley, Manny, Jessa, Nalinda and Marty. "We all live in peace here together," Marty explained to Link, reaching one hand up to adjust his silver crown, which had come loose and was slipping over his eyes.
"You should visit us sometime," Nalinda suggested with a soft smile.
Link, for lack of anything to say, looked upward at the ceiling. "Can I see the rest of the island?" he teased playfully, "or are we going to stay here talking until the cows come home?"
Maureen crossed her arms jokingly. "Do you really think we'd do that? Nah, we're going to take you on a tour of the island and leave you tangled up in the vines of Ferngrowth, buddy boy."
Jessa shoved her playfully. "No, even better, Maur, we're going to show him Coconut Beach and throw him right in the middle of the Shrine of the Water Fairy."
Marty had an evil grin. "Or, even worse, we could send him to the oasis in Sandstorm Desert, and when you're drinking water after a long trek through the wasteland, we're going to drown you in it!" he said with a perfect evil cackle.
Link laughed. "Whatever you choose, I can always run away and artfully kick sand into your faces and abandon you while you're sneezing!" he teased playfully, shaking his head so that his green elven cap danced in the air.
Maureen gave a long, fake sigh. "Well, if you're gonna do that to us, Link, then we might as well just go on and show you the rest of the island." She gave a sudden, ravenous grin (lots of grinning here today). "You'd better follow... Or else."
As the others laughed and followed her up a stairway to the upper floor of the castle, Mosley lagged behind, turning to Link. "How did you know how to read that ancient Hylian writing?" he demanded suddenly, whirling around so fast so that his curly hair whipped in the updraft. He was literally towering over the Saviour of Hyrule.
Link was taken aback. He could feel his cheeks grow hot as he stuttered his answer. "Well... I... um..."
Mosley dropped down to his natural height, which, unsurprisingly, was around the same size as Link. "No, no, we've found out. You're the hero who's supposed to save us and all that."
Link nodded, grateful that he hadn't had to explain it all himself. "How'd you figure it out?"
Mosley smiled, pivoting on his heel and following the others up the red-carpeted staircase. "There were clues ... the most prominent one being that legends said he would be clad all in green."
"Ah," Link said sarcastically, following up the stairs after Mosley.
